AP Medical Writer LONDON (AP) - The number of measles deaths
worldwide has apparently dropped by about three-quarters over a
decade, according to a new study by the World Health
Organization and others. Most of the deaths were in India and
Africa, where not enough children are being immunized. Health
officials estimate about 9.6 million children were saved from
dying of measles from 2000 to 2010 after big vaccination
campaigns were rolled out more than a decade ago. Researchers
guessed the number of deaths fell during that time period from
about 535,300 to 139,300, or about 74 percent. But the figures
come with a big grain of salt; scientists only had solid data
for 65 countries. For the 128 others, they used modeling to come
up with their estimates. Despite the major dent, the progress
fails to meet a WHO target to cut measles deaths by 90 percent
by 2010. "This is still a huge success," said Peter Strebel, a
measles expert at WHO and one of the authors of the study. "You
don't reduce measles deaths by three