ISLAMABAD, June 28: The health ministry is launching a nation- wide measles mass immunisation campaign from July 2, targeting 63 million children, the federal health minister, Nasir Khan said on Thursday.

“The campaign would run in phases and would begin from Balochistan, where eight districts would be covered in the forthcoming round,” he told a media conference.

After the first phase, being held from July 2-18, the next round is planned from Aug 20-Sept 5, 2007, in 25 districts of the NWFP, Balochistan, Northern Areas and seven districts of Azad Kashmir. Subsequently, campaigns would be launched in November 2007 and February-March 2008.

The campaign, being funded by the Measles Initiative (MI) —a global partnership led by the American Red Cross, the United Nations Foundation, Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, UN children’s fund and the World Health Organization— is being tipped as the largest measles immunisation campaign in the world.

The previous largest campaign took place last year in Bangladesh, where 33.5 million children were targeted. MI has donated $30 million to reduce measles morbidity and mortality in Pakistan.

Measles is still endemic in Pakistan and is a major cause of childhood illnesses and deaths. Every day 58 children die from measles in Pakistan and an estimated 21,000 children die every year from measles and its complications.

More than 1 million children fall victim to this disease in the country annually. The Unicef spokesperson Antonia Paradela said, “The scale of this campaign will make the measles vaccine available for every child under the age of 13, including those who have already been immunised against the disease. The aim is to accelerate and sustain a reduction in the number of deaths from measles.”

Pakistan’s measles vaccination coverage in is about 69 per cent through routine immunisation services. As a result of these coverage gaps, a high number of susceptible, un-immunised children have been building up over time, leading to periodic measles outbreaks.