The Americas Prepared To Meet Challenge To Wipe Out Rubella Before the 2010 Target
Lima, Peru, September 3, 2003 (PAHO)—Hemispheric health and government officials meeting here this week expressed their intention to attempt to eradicate rubella and congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) before the 2010 target agreed to earlier.
To reach that goal, national and international vaccination campaigns will be carried out throughout the entire Western hemisphere over the next few years. Rubella is commonly known as German measles.
Currently, it is estimated that more than 20,000 children are born every year in the Americas already suffering of CRS. That said, however, no large epidemics have taken place in the region.
Peruvian Health Minister Álvaro Vidal Rivadeneyra said that just as was done with polio and measles, "we will strengthen vaccination programs in view of the need for permanent, joint and multinational efforts." Vidal hosted the joint 13th Andean Region Conference and the 17th Southern Cone Conference on Preventable Diseases.
The Americas, as a region, has proven on several occasions that it has been successful is carrying out massive vaccination programs. The latest was the Vaccination Week of the Americas, in June of this year, during which more than 15 million children in 19 countries were vaccinated. The conference delegates agreed on the significance of the vaccination campaign as part of the Expanded Immunization Programs and the hemisphere's integration process.
"Globalization brings with it risks and the health problems in one nation now affect other nations in the region and around the world," Vidal told the delegates. "Within this context, it is a challenge for us to vaccinate all boys and girls." Peru already has an Expanded Immunization Program that includes anti-rubella vaccinations for children less than one year of age and for women of childbearing age.
On a hemispheric-wide basis, the eradication of rubella is now a new challenge to the region's sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction, among other things.
According to a fact sheet of the Bethesda, Md.,-based National Coalition for Adult Immunization, "rubella is caused by a virus that is spread from person to person when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Rubella is also spread by direct contact with the nasal or throat secretions of an infected person. If a pregnant woman gets rubella during the first 3 months of pregnancy, her baby is at risk of having serious birth defects or dying. ... Symptoms of rubella may include a rash, slight fever, aching joints, headaches, discomfort, runny nose and reddened eyes."
A report prepared for the Sept. 22-26 Washington, D.C., meeting of PAHO's 44th Directing Council, noted that several countries and regions have embarked on an accelerated control of rubella and CRS:
- "Experience is being gained in the mass vaccination of heterogeneous populations groups that have included men, women and adolescents in Costa Rica, Honduras and the English-speaking Caribbean countries.
- "The mass vaccination against rubella of 28 million women in Brazil has provided important lessons on the vaccination of large population groups.
- "The experience of the English-speaking Caribbean countries has also provided useful insights on the cost-benefits of immunizing against rubella infection.
- "The impact of the accelerated rubella vaccination strategies on the rapid reduction of CRS morbidity in Cuba, the English-speaking Caribbean and Chile is being reported, as well as the rapid interruption of rubella virus transmission in Costa Rica."
PAHO was established in 1902 and is the world's oldest public health organization. PAHO works with all the countries of the Americas to improve the health and the quality of life of its people. It serves as the Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization (WHO).
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