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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CCP, New Health Communication Partnership Help Implement Zambia's Successful Measles Program with 5 Million Children Vaccinated in a WeekIntegrated Effort Also Focused on Malaria and Other Childhood IllnessesBALTIMORE - The United Nations Children's Fund is calling a measles prevention effort in Zambia a "spectacular success" because the nationwide program resulted in five million children being vaccinated during one week in June. The government of Zambia, various nongovernmental organizations, and church groups mobilized support for the campaign and raised awareness. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs (CCP), provided technical assistance to help design and produce campaign materials, train health workers, and produce television spots. The Health Communication Partnership, led by CCP, also helped implement the measles prevention effort. "Everybody played their part—it was not only a national success but a national effort," UNICEF Representative Dr. Stella Goings told the U.N.'s Integrated Regional Information Networks News in a recent interview. The campaign used an integrated approach that also focused on vitamin A supplementation, de-worming and malaria prevention. Malaria, in addition to measles, is one of the major killers of Zambian children. Every year about 60,000 Zambians die from malaria and 90 percent are children under five, UNICEF said. The vaccination drive in Zambia is part of a global effort to halve the number of measles deaths by 2005. Meanwhile, 75,000 insecticide-treated bed nets were distributed after children in Eastern and Northern provinces received their vaccination, resulting in 80 percent of the households receiving anti-malarial bed nets. According to UNICEF, before the measles campaign, about 800,000 nets were in use in Zambia, representing coverage of 27 percent. With representatives in more than 30 countries, Johns Hopkins' CCP is a pioneer in the field of strategic, research-based communication programs for behavior change and health promotion that have helped transform the theory and practice of public health communication. Supported by USAID, HCP is a global communication initiative designed to promote evidence-based and innovative approaches, build capacity, and bring programs to scale. HCP is led by CCP in partnership with the Academy for Educational Development, Save the Children, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and the University of North Carolina's Carolina Population Center at Chapel Hill. For further information contact: Kim Martin at Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, 111 Market Place, Suite 310, Baltimore, Maryland 21202, USA. Tel: 410 659-6140; Fax: 410 659-6266 e-mail: press@jhuccp.org. |
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