Lebanon and UN to start mass immunisation of children
United Nations aid organisations will help the Lebanese government start a mass immunisation campaign to prevent an outbreak of potentially fatal measles among refugee children, officials said today.
The Lebanese Ministry of Health will focus on 18,000 children living in crowded camps in Beirut, and then move on to displaced families in other parts of the country, according to a statement published by the UN children’s fund today.
A Unicef representative in Lebanon, Roberto Laurenti, said immunisation was vital as measles could become a killer disease in a crisis situation such as Lebanon.
Children aged five and under will also be immunised against polio, a highly contagious disease that can lead to paralysis or death.
A shipment of measles vaccines is due to leave Denmark for Syria soon, and will be brought from Damascus to Beirut by refrigerated truck, the Unicef statement said.
