Rush to prevent measles

2005-01-02 14:56

New Delhi - A mass inoculation drive for 115 000 children in tsunami relief camps in southern India is under way to avoid an outbreak of measles, the United Nation's Children Fund said on Sunday.

"Measles is a deadly threat to children living in crowded camps," said Marzio Babille, Unicef's health chief in India.

"It spreads quickly, killing children, or severely weakens their immune systems. Those children are then too weak to fight off other diseases, leading to more deaths. It's a vicious circle. But we can head it off with a good round of immunization and Vitamin A."

UNICEF is working with the Kerala and Tamil Nadu state health departments and the World Health Organisation to provide doctors, syringes and vaccines to reach the children in camps at 11 districts in Tamil Nadu and three districts in Kerala.

On Saturday, a Unicef official described the health situation in the Tamil Nadu district of Nagapattinam, the worst affected area on the mainland devastated when the giant waves hit the Indian coast last Sunday, as "decent".

"The situation has been fairly good and decent. There is enough supply of drinking water and there has been no outbreak of any diseases," Unicef communications officer Geetanjali Master told AFP.

On Sunday, Unicef said there was no major outbreak of diarrhoea or cholera, but medicines were on hand in case.

Members of the UN body have been camping in Nagapattinam for the past five days, visiting far-flung villages and checking on the state of those displaced by the disaster, especially women and children.

"We need to focus primarily on sanitation now," Master said. "The sanitation conditions at the refugee (shelters) are not good. There is open defecation, urination. We need enough water supply for washing hands and personal cleanliness."

However, the most crucial commodity - drinking water - seems to have reached the district, with ample supply to the town and some 40 affected villages.

- AFP