UN funds emergency measles campaign in Somalia

United Nations, July 15 (IANS) The UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) has allocated $1.4 million for an emergency campaign to combat measles outbreak in Somalia, media reported Tuesday.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the funding will be used to vaccinate an estimated half a million children under five years of age, Xinhua quoted UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq as saying.

The worst affected areas are Banadir, Lower Juba and Puntland.

There were more than 1,350 suspected cases of measles in March and April, four times more than the number during the same period last year.

According to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), nearly 1,000 cases were reported in May alone.

Haq said that three quarters of cases were reported in children under the age of five.

The measles outbreak is of a major concern in Somalia due to the lack of access to health services.

A nationwide check-up campaign will be conducted in the next six months as part of the overall measles control strategy.

According to the UN, measles is one of the leading killers of young children in Somalia where one in five children die before their fifth birthday.