Deaths from measles are declining worldwide, but Nigeria, India and Pakistan need to step up immunisation to beat the lethal virus, U.N. agencies said on Friday. The World Health Organisation (WHO) and U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) said the world was "on target" to halve global deaths from measles by the end of 2005 from 873,000 in 1999. Deaths from the contagious disease which can be prevented by vaccination have already fallen by nearly 40 percent since 1999, though 2004 figures are not in yet, they said in a joint statement. "We are winning the fight against measles," Jean-Marie Okwo-Bele, director of WHO's immunisation and vaccines department, told a news briefing. Only a decade ago, measles killed millions of children each year, and left many with life-long disabilities such as blindness and brain damage, the WHO said. --More 2323 Local Time 2023 GMT
