TV doctor Jane joins measles fight
She could not actually administer the vaccinations, but Jane Seymour, the English actress who played TV’s Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman, lent her celebrity to help promote a campaign aimed at eliminating measles in Africa on Tuesday.
Seymour, with eight Los Angeles school children and a documentary film crew in tow, toured Kenyan vaccination centres set up as part of the Measles Initiative - a five year long, continent-wide campaign led by The American Red Cross.
‘‘This is an initiative that can actually be accomplished,’’ said Seymour, who has been working with the American Red Cross since February. ‘‘In a world where nothing seems to ever be accomplished, this is gratifying.’’
Measles, a highly contagious disease that can be fatal, was once common in North America and Europe and still kills more than 450,000 children a year in Africa.
Seymour was upbeat about the trip to Africa.
‘‘Hopefully, we’ll encourage people and raise awareness about the conditions in other parts of the world,’’ the 51-year-old actress said.
‘‘We can actually do something to make people in the Third World believe that we actually care.’’
