100 children died of measles in Jan. in Pakistan

January 25, 2013 - More than a hundred children have died of measles in Pakistan during the first three weeks of the year, according to health officials who say they are fighting a losing battle against the disease. Maryam Yunus, of the World Health Organisation (WHO), said 103 children had died from complications of measles, such as pneumonia or diarrhoea, between January 1 and 19 alone. Three consecutive years of flooding and a decade of insecurity in Pakistan mean millions of children have gone unvaccinated and are so badly malnourished they are unable to resist infections. The worst hit province was Sindh, she said, which recorded 63 deaths and which was very badly affected by floods in 2010, 2011 and 2012. "The number is huge," she said. "The basic problem is that we have a very low routine rate of immunisation all over the country because there are security issues, displaced populations, and other factors – such as malnourishment in Sindh – which are all contributing to the problem." The number of cases has rocketed in recent years, from 64 deaths in 2011 to 300 last year, underlining the difficulties faced by health workers in tackling preventable diseases. Their work has been undermined allegedly by a CIA programme in 2011, which used a hepatitis vaccination campaign as part of a ruse to track down al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden. Many people have been suspicious of vaccination teams ever since. Nine health workers were shot dead at the end of last year, in an apparently coordinated campaign against polio vaccinators.