Saharan African and south Asia, where measles immunisation coverage averages only 60 percent. "To maintain gains in mortality reduction, efforts are needed to strengthen routine immunisation services in priority countries. The focus now is to increase support to the large priority countries -- Nigeria, India and Pakistan," he said. About half of all measles deaths last year occurred in the three countries, Hersh said. Nigeria, India and Pakistan -- where the crippling polio virus is also taking a toll despite a global eradication campaign -- lack strong health care systems and routine vaccine coverage, Hersh said. The likely next goal would be to reduce mortality by 90 percent by 2010, compared with 1999, according to Okwo-Bele. --SP 2324 Local Time 2024 GMT
