Measles vaccination campaign targets over 2.6m Syrian children

A 10-day measles immunization campaign is underway in Syria to protect children from this deadly disease. Launched on 19 April, the campaign is aimed at children between six months and five years of age. Vaccination will be provided in 1,209 health centers, and nearly 6,000 health staff and mobile teams are participating in the campaign.

By the end of 2014, 594 children had been diagnosed with measles. Of these, almost half were not immunized. Since the conflict began in 2011, immunization rates across the country have fallen from 99% to just 52% due to lack of access and severe damage to health infrastructure nearly one third of the country’s health centers are either damaged or destroyed.

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimates that over 230,000 children in hard-to-reach areas across the country will likely miss out due to the ongoing conflict.

UNICEF estimates there are more than 3.8 million children internally displaced across the country, many of whom were missed out in previous measles campaigns. At least 646,000 are under the age of 5.