Some research I did on numbers of measles cases in Africa
Posted: Sat May 27, 2006 4:09 pm
Showing the unreliability of numbers
Online research I did in 2000
http://primarycare.medscape.com/govmt/C ... 8.03/tab-4
748.03-01.html
URL no longer works
And this chart gives
290,942 REPORTED cases of measles in Africa in 1997 &
11,439,541 Estimated cases in 1997 (and where do they get this estimate from)
549,125 deaths from measles in Africa in 1997 (it would seem to mean that
if the deaths from measles were reported they should be included in the
reported cases which are only 290,942
Is there something wrong with this picture????
And this one I did at the same time on just Nigeria
I find it very interesting
http://www.unfoundation.org/grants/1_5_measles.cfm (URL no longer works)
United Nations Foundation - Childrens Health - Grants
Says this about measles in Nigeria....(glad they are doing VITAMIN A but....
Vitamin A Deficiency in Nigeria
© UNICEF/DO194-0243
© UNICEF/DO194-0243
Press
Agency Funded:
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
Amount Funded:
$1 million over one year
Approved:
May 1998
Measles continues to be a leading cause of death among children in
Nigeria, the most populous nation in Africa, despite the fact that it is a
preventable disease. Every year approximately 108,000 Nigerian children
die of the illness, which is roughly 13 percent of the worldwide measles
death toll. Fewer than 40 percent of the 4 million Nigerian children born
each year are vaccinated for measles by their first birthday. The death
toll is augmented by an uncommonly high incidence of vitamin A
deficiency in Nigeria, which leaves children more vulnerable to infections
of all kinds.
And then this LIBRARY OF CONGRESS WEBSITE ON NIGERIA doesn't even mention
MEASLES AS A MAJOR CAUSE OF DEATH - it is data of 1991! ....
http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-9393.html
Nigeria
Primary Health Care Policies
In August 1987, the federal government launched its Primary Health Care
plan (PHC), which President Ibrahim Babangida announced as the cornerstone
of health policy. Intended to affect the entire national population, its
main stated objectives
included accelerated health care personnel development; improved collection
and monitoring of health data; ensured availability of essential drugs in
all areas of the country; implementation of an Expanded Programme on
Immunization (EPI); improved
nutrition throughout the country; promotion of health awareness;
development of a national family health program; and widespread promotion
of oral rehydration therapy for treatment of diarrheal disease in infants
and children. Implementation of
these programs was intended to take place mainly through collaboration
between the Ministry of Health and participating local government councils,
which received direct grants from the federal government.
Of these objectives, the EPI was the most concrete and probably made the
greatest progress initially. The immunization program focused on four major
childhood diseases: pertussis, diphtheria, measles, and polio, and tetanus
and tuberculosis. Its
aim was to increase dramatically the proportion of immunized children
younger than two from about 20 percent to 50 percent initially, and to 90
percent by the end of 1990. Launched in March 1988, the program by August
1989 was said to have been
established in more than 300 of 449 LGAs. Although the program was said to
have made much progress, its goal of 90 percent coverage was probably
excessively ambitious, especially in view of the economic strains of
structural adjustment that
permeated the Nigerian economy throughout the late 1980s.
The government's population control program also came partially under the
PHC. By the late 1980s, the official policy was strongly to encourage women
to have no more than four children, which would represent a substantial
reduction from the
estimated fertility rate of almost seven children per woman in 1987. No
official sanctions were attached to the government's population policy, but
birth control information and contraceptive supplies were available in many
health facilities.
The federal government also sought to improve the availability of
pharmaceutical drugs. Foreign exchange had to be released for essential
drug imports, so the government attempted to encourage local drug
manufacture; because raw materials for local
drug manufacture had to be imported, however, costs were reduced only
partially. For Nigeria both to limit its foreign exchange expenditures and
simultaneously to implement massive expansion in primary health care,
foreign assistance would probably be
needed. Despite advances against many infectious diseases, Nigeria's
population continued through the 1980s to be subject to several major
diseases, some of which occurred in acute outbreaks causing hundreds or
thousands of deaths, while others
recurred chronically, causing large-scale infection and debilitation. Among
the former were cerebrospinal meningitis, yellow fever, Lassa fever and,
most recently, AIDS; the latter included malaria, guinea worm,
schistosomiasis (bilharzia), and
onchocerciasis (river blindness). Malnutrition and its attendant diseases
also continued to be a refractory problem among infants and children in
many areas, despite the nation's economic and agricultural advances.
Among the worst of the acute diseases was cerebrospinal meningitis, a
potentially fatal inflammation of the membranes of the brain and spinal
cord, which can recur in periodic epidemic outbreaks. Northern Nigeria is
one of the most heavily populated
regions in what is considered the meningitis belt of Africa, stretching
from Senegal to Sudan and all areas having a long dry season and low
humidity between December and April. The disease plagued the northern and
middle belt areas in 1986 and
1989, generally appearing during the cool, dry harmattan season when people
spend more time indoors, promoting contagious spread. Paralysis, and often
death, can occur within forty-eight hours of the first symptoms.
In response to the outbreaks, the federal and state governments in 1989
attempted mass immunization in the affected regions. Authorities pointed,
however, to the difficulty of storing vaccines in the harsh conditions of
northern areas, many of which also
had poor roads and inadequate medical facilities.
Beginning in November 1986 and for several months thereafter, a large
outbreak of yellow fever occurred in scattered areas. The most heavily
affected were the states of Oyo, Imo, Anambra, and Cross River in the
south, Benue and Niger in the middle
belt, and Kaduna and Sokoto in the north. There were at least several
hundred deaths. Fourteen million doses of vaccine were distributed with
international assistance, and the outbreak was brought under control.
Lassa fever, a highly contagious and virulent viral disease, appeared
periodically in the 1980s in various areas. The disease was first
identified in 1969 in the northeast Nigerian town of Lassa. It is believed
that rats and other rodents are reservoirs of the
virus, and that transmission to humans can occur through droppings or food
contamination in and around homes. Mortality rates can be high, and there
is no known treatment.
The presence of AIDS in Nigeria was officially confirmed in 1987,
considerably later than its appearance and wide dispersion in much of East
and Central Africa. In March 1987, the minister of health announced that
tests of a pool of blood samples
collected from high risk groups had turned up two confirmed cases of AIDS,
both HIV Type-1 strains. Subsequently, HIV-2, a somewhat less virulent
strain found mainly in West Africa, was also confirmed. In 1990 the
infection rate for either virus in
Nigeria was thought to be below 1 percent of the population.
Less dramatic than the acute infectious diseases but often equally
destructive were a host of chronic diseases that were serious and
widespread but only occasionally resulted in death. Of these the most
common was malaria, including cerebral malaria,
which can be fatal. The guinea worm parasite, which is spread through
ingestion of contaminated water, is endemic in many rural areas, causing
recurring illness and occasionally permanently crippling its victims. The
World Health Organization (WHO)
in 1987 estimated that there were 3 million cases of guinea worm in
Nigeria--about 2 percent of the world total of 140 million cases- -making
Nigeria the nation with the highest number of guinea worm cases. In
affected areas, guinea worm and related
complications were estimated to be the major cause of work and school
absenteeism.
Virtually all affected states had campaigns under way to eradicate the
disease through education and provision of pure drinking water supplies to
rural villages. The government has set an ambitious target of full
eradication by 1995, with extensive
assistance from the Japanese government, Global 2000, and numerous other
international donors.
The parasitic diseases onchocerciasis and schistosomiasis, both associated
with bodies of water, were found in parts of Nigeria. Onchocerciasis is
caused by filarial worms transmitted by small black flies that typically
live and breed near rapidly
flowing water. The worms can damage the eyes and optic nerve and can cause
blindness by young adulthood or later. In some villages near the Volta
River tributaries where the disease is endemic, up to 20 percent of adults
older than thirty are blind
because of the disease. Most control efforts have focused on a dual
strategy of treating the sufferers and trying to eliminate the flies,
usually with insecticide sprays. The flies and the disease are most common
in the lowland savanna areas of the middle belt.
Schistosomiasis is caused by blood flukes, which use freshwater snails as
an intermediate host and invade humans when the larvae penetrate the skin
of people entering a pond, lake, or stream in which the snails live. Most
often, schistosomiasis results
in chronic debilitation rather than acute illness.
Data as of June 1991
***
Another chart on measles incidence in Africa
http://www.netspace.org/ftpspace/Hunger ... easles.txt
URL no longer works
Here it lists
Table 2.2.1: AFRICAN REGION
REPORTED ANNUAL INCIDENCE OF MEASLES
COUNTRY / AREA 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993
------------------------------------------------------------------
32 Nigeria 33678 115682 44026 85058
So at the most there were 115682 cases of measles in Nigeria in 1990
The Unicef site said 108,000 children die every year of measles - so nearly
everyone died in 1990. But what about the other years - there weren't even
108,000 cases.
Just to show you about these stats!
Sheri
Table 2.2.1: AFRICAN REGION
REPORTED ANNUAL INCIDENCE OF MEASLES
COUNTRY / AREA 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993
------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Algeria 4169 1796 5969 8823
2 Angola 18584 29069 18382 11561
3 Benin 3281 593 3227
4 Botswana 3711 1218 565 566
5 Burkina Faso 7474 9804 6126 4486 14890
6 Burundi 28014 13282 10397 22344
7 Cameroon 19259 26910 14622 27057
8 Cape Verde 1 0 7 0
9 Cen. Afr. Rep. 331 1275 3644 449
10 Chad 7469 7316 21182 9358
11 Comores 170 2328 9 0
12 Congo 498 3608 4042 4302
13 Cote d'Ivoire 18660 17799 9902
14 Equat. Guinea 582 32 32 297
15 Ethiopia 4169 1836 497
16 Gabon 1780 738
17 Gambia 110 365
18 Ghana 19997 17135
19 Guinea 4152 12756 6708 1617 5228
20 Guinea-Bissau 106 259 2350 842
21 Kenya 86727 77072 44543
22 Lesotho 1378 2195 2351 670
23 Liberia 1866
24 Madagascar 29654 14459
25 Malawi 93100 5730
26 Mali 3678 1248 13473 6081
27 Mauritania 5032 1379 4601 5110
28 Mauritius 0 1 0 7
29 Mozambique 23036 18296 4983 3148
30 Namibia 6874
31 Niger 22932 20463 85048 23726
32 Nigeria 33678 115682 44026 85058
33 Reunion
34 Rwanda 5429 8970 5820 17429
35 Sao Tome & Prin. 0
36 Senegal 10940 5004 11476 15195
37 Seychelles 5 13 6 0
38 Sierra Leone 625 830 284 914
39 St. Helena
40 Swaziland 1465 1469 467 1569
41 Tanzania 7033 14920 3047 10303
42 Togo 3499 4548 7544
43 Uganda 660 2637
44 Zaire 7571 63
45 Zambia 5747 6748 922
46 Zimbabwe 47509 13728 24090 1052
------------------------------------------------------------------
Regional Total 533971 439688 335218 317958 20118
No. of countries 41 36 36 33 3
% of countries 89 78 78 72 7
South Africa 18268 10624 4777 22717 6495
Total 552239 450312 339995 340675 26613
25-Mar-94
**************
Where are on earth can you get reliable data of actual numbers - I really
don't see how in Africa that is even possible!
Sheri
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Sheri Nakken, R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath
Well Within & Earth Mysteries & Sacred Site Tours (worldwide)
Vaccination Information & Choice Network
http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccine.htm
http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/homeo.htm
homeopathycures@tesco.net
ONLINE Introduction to Homeopathy Classes
ONLINE Introduction to Vaccine Dangers Classes
Voicemail US 530-740-0561 UK phone from US 011-44-1874-624-936
Online research I did in 2000
http://primarycare.medscape.com/govmt/C ... 8.03/tab-4
748.03-01.html
URL no longer works
And this chart gives
290,942 REPORTED cases of measles in Africa in 1997 &
11,439,541 Estimated cases in 1997 (and where do they get this estimate from)
549,125 deaths from measles in Africa in 1997 (it would seem to mean that
if the deaths from measles were reported they should be included in the
reported cases which are only 290,942
Is there something wrong with this picture????
And this one I did at the same time on just Nigeria
I find it very interesting
http://www.unfoundation.org/grants/1_5_measles.cfm (URL no longer works)
United Nations Foundation - Childrens Health - Grants
Says this about measles in Nigeria....(glad they are doing VITAMIN A but....
Vitamin A Deficiency in Nigeria
© UNICEF/DO194-0243
© UNICEF/DO194-0243
Press
Agency Funded:
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
Amount Funded:
$1 million over one year
Approved:
May 1998
Measles continues to be a leading cause of death among children in
Nigeria, the most populous nation in Africa, despite the fact that it is a
preventable disease. Every year approximately 108,000 Nigerian children
die of the illness, which is roughly 13 percent of the worldwide measles
death toll. Fewer than 40 percent of the 4 million Nigerian children born
each year are vaccinated for measles by their first birthday. The death
toll is augmented by an uncommonly high incidence of vitamin A
deficiency in Nigeria, which leaves children more vulnerable to infections
of all kinds.
And then this LIBRARY OF CONGRESS WEBSITE ON NIGERIA doesn't even mention
MEASLES AS A MAJOR CAUSE OF DEATH - it is data of 1991! ....
http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-9393.html
Nigeria
Primary Health Care Policies
In August 1987, the federal government launched its Primary Health Care
plan (PHC), which President Ibrahim Babangida announced as the cornerstone
of health policy. Intended to affect the entire national population, its
main stated objectives
included accelerated health care personnel development; improved collection
and monitoring of health data; ensured availability of essential drugs in
all areas of the country; implementation of an Expanded Programme on
Immunization (EPI); improved
nutrition throughout the country; promotion of health awareness;
development of a national family health program; and widespread promotion
of oral rehydration therapy for treatment of diarrheal disease in infants
and children. Implementation of
these programs was intended to take place mainly through collaboration
between the Ministry of Health and participating local government councils,
which received direct grants from the federal government.
Of these objectives, the EPI was the most concrete and probably made the
greatest progress initially. The immunization program focused on four major
childhood diseases: pertussis, diphtheria, measles, and polio, and tetanus
and tuberculosis. Its
aim was to increase dramatically the proportion of immunized children
younger than two from about 20 percent to 50 percent initially, and to 90
percent by the end of 1990. Launched in March 1988, the program by August
1989 was said to have been
established in more than 300 of 449 LGAs. Although the program was said to
have made much progress, its goal of 90 percent coverage was probably
excessively ambitious, especially in view of the economic strains of
structural adjustment that
permeated the Nigerian economy throughout the late 1980s.
The government's population control program also came partially under the
PHC. By the late 1980s, the official policy was strongly to encourage women
to have no more than four children, which would represent a substantial
reduction from the
estimated fertility rate of almost seven children per woman in 1987. No
official sanctions were attached to the government's population policy, but
birth control information and contraceptive supplies were available in many
health facilities.
The federal government also sought to improve the availability of
pharmaceutical drugs. Foreign exchange had to be released for essential
drug imports, so the government attempted to encourage local drug
manufacture; because raw materials for local
drug manufacture had to be imported, however, costs were reduced only
partially. For Nigeria both to limit its foreign exchange expenditures and
simultaneously to implement massive expansion in primary health care,
foreign assistance would probably be
needed. Despite advances against many infectious diseases, Nigeria's
population continued through the 1980s to be subject to several major
diseases, some of which occurred in acute outbreaks causing hundreds or
thousands of deaths, while others
recurred chronically, causing large-scale infection and debilitation. Among
the former were cerebrospinal meningitis, yellow fever, Lassa fever and,
most recently, AIDS; the latter included malaria, guinea worm,
schistosomiasis (bilharzia), and
onchocerciasis (river blindness). Malnutrition and its attendant diseases
also continued to be a refractory problem among infants and children in
many areas, despite the nation's economic and agricultural advances.
Among the worst of the acute diseases was cerebrospinal meningitis, a
potentially fatal inflammation of the membranes of the brain and spinal
cord, which can recur in periodic epidemic outbreaks. Northern Nigeria is
one of the most heavily populated
regions in what is considered the meningitis belt of Africa, stretching
from Senegal to Sudan and all areas having a long dry season and low
humidity between December and April. The disease plagued the northern and
middle belt areas in 1986 and
1989, generally appearing during the cool, dry harmattan season when people
spend more time indoors, promoting contagious spread. Paralysis, and often
death, can occur within forty-eight hours of the first symptoms.
In response to the outbreaks, the federal and state governments in 1989
attempted mass immunization in the affected regions. Authorities pointed,
however, to the difficulty of storing vaccines in the harsh conditions of
northern areas, many of which also
had poor roads and inadequate medical facilities.
Beginning in November 1986 and for several months thereafter, a large
outbreak of yellow fever occurred in scattered areas. The most heavily
affected were the states of Oyo, Imo, Anambra, and Cross River in the
south, Benue and Niger in the middle
belt, and Kaduna and Sokoto in the north. There were at least several
hundred deaths. Fourteen million doses of vaccine were distributed with
international assistance, and the outbreak was brought under control.
Lassa fever, a highly contagious and virulent viral disease, appeared
periodically in the 1980s in various areas. The disease was first
identified in 1969 in the northeast Nigerian town of Lassa. It is believed
that rats and other rodents are reservoirs of the
virus, and that transmission to humans can occur through droppings or food
contamination in and around homes. Mortality rates can be high, and there
is no known treatment.
The presence of AIDS in Nigeria was officially confirmed in 1987,
considerably later than its appearance and wide dispersion in much of East
and Central Africa. In March 1987, the minister of health announced that
tests of a pool of blood samples
collected from high risk groups had turned up two confirmed cases of AIDS,
both HIV Type-1 strains. Subsequently, HIV-2, a somewhat less virulent
strain found mainly in West Africa, was also confirmed. In 1990 the
infection rate for either virus in
Nigeria was thought to be below 1 percent of the population.
Less dramatic than the acute infectious diseases but often equally
destructive were a host of chronic diseases that were serious and
widespread but only occasionally resulted in death. Of these the most
common was malaria, including cerebral malaria,
which can be fatal. The guinea worm parasite, which is spread through
ingestion of contaminated water, is endemic in many rural areas, causing
recurring illness and occasionally permanently crippling its victims. The
World Health Organization (WHO)
in 1987 estimated that there were 3 million cases of guinea worm in
Nigeria--about 2 percent of the world total of 140 million cases- -making
Nigeria the nation with the highest number of guinea worm cases. In
affected areas, guinea worm and related
complications were estimated to be the major cause of work and school
absenteeism.
Virtually all affected states had campaigns under way to eradicate the
disease through education and provision of pure drinking water supplies to
rural villages. The government has set an ambitious target of full
eradication by 1995, with extensive
assistance from the Japanese government, Global 2000, and numerous other
international donors.
The parasitic diseases onchocerciasis and schistosomiasis, both associated
with bodies of water, were found in parts of Nigeria. Onchocerciasis is
caused by filarial worms transmitted by small black flies that typically
live and breed near rapidly
flowing water. The worms can damage the eyes and optic nerve and can cause
blindness by young adulthood or later. In some villages near the Volta
River tributaries where the disease is endemic, up to 20 percent of adults
older than thirty are blind
because of the disease. Most control efforts have focused on a dual
strategy of treating the sufferers and trying to eliminate the flies,
usually with insecticide sprays. The flies and the disease are most common
in the lowland savanna areas of the middle belt.
Schistosomiasis is caused by blood flukes, which use freshwater snails as
an intermediate host and invade humans when the larvae penetrate the skin
of people entering a pond, lake, or stream in which the snails live. Most
often, schistosomiasis results
in chronic debilitation rather than acute illness.
Data as of June 1991
***
Another chart on measles incidence in Africa
http://www.netspace.org/ftpspace/Hunger ... easles.txt
URL no longer works
Here it lists
Table 2.2.1: AFRICAN REGION
REPORTED ANNUAL INCIDENCE OF MEASLES
COUNTRY / AREA 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993
------------------------------------------------------------------
32 Nigeria 33678 115682 44026 85058
So at the most there were 115682 cases of measles in Nigeria in 1990
The Unicef site said 108,000 children die every year of measles - so nearly
everyone died in 1990. But what about the other years - there weren't even
108,000 cases.
Just to show you about these stats!
Sheri
Table 2.2.1: AFRICAN REGION
REPORTED ANNUAL INCIDENCE OF MEASLES
COUNTRY / AREA 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993
------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Algeria 4169 1796 5969 8823
2 Angola 18584 29069 18382 11561
3 Benin 3281 593 3227
4 Botswana 3711 1218 565 566
5 Burkina Faso 7474 9804 6126 4486 14890
6 Burundi 28014 13282 10397 22344
7 Cameroon 19259 26910 14622 27057
8 Cape Verde 1 0 7 0
9 Cen. Afr. Rep. 331 1275 3644 449
10 Chad 7469 7316 21182 9358
11 Comores 170 2328 9 0
12 Congo 498 3608 4042 4302
13 Cote d'Ivoire 18660 17799 9902
14 Equat. Guinea 582 32 32 297
15 Ethiopia 4169 1836 497
16 Gabon 1780 738
17 Gambia 110 365
18 Ghana 19997 17135
19 Guinea 4152 12756 6708 1617 5228
20 Guinea-Bissau 106 259 2350 842
21 Kenya 86727 77072 44543
22 Lesotho 1378 2195 2351 670
23 Liberia 1866
24 Madagascar 29654 14459
25 Malawi 93100 5730
26 Mali 3678 1248 13473 6081
27 Mauritania 5032 1379 4601 5110
28 Mauritius 0 1 0 7
29 Mozambique 23036 18296 4983 3148
30 Namibia 6874
31 Niger 22932 20463 85048 23726
32 Nigeria 33678 115682 44026 85058
33 Reunion
34 Rwanda 5429 8970 5820 17429
35 Sao Tome & Prin. 0
36 Senegal 10940 5004 11476 15195
37 Seychelles 5 13 6 0
38 Sierra Leone 625 830 284 914
39 St. Helena
40 Swaziland 1465 1469 467 1569
41 Tanzania 7033 14920 3047 10303
42 Togo 3499 4548 7544
43 Uganda 660 2637
44 Zaire 7571 63
45 Zambia 5747 6748 922
46 Zimbabwe 47509 13728 24090 1052
------------------------------------------------------------------
Regional Total 533971 439688 335218 317958 20118
No. of countries 41 36 36 33 3
% of countries 89 78 78 72 7
South Africa 18268 10624 4777 22717 6495
Total 552239 450312 339995 340675 26613
25-Mar-94
**************
Where are on earth can you get reliable data of actual numbers - I really
don't see how in Africa that is even possible!
Sheri
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Sheri Nakken, R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath
Well Within & Earth Mysteries & Sacred Site Tours (worldwide)
Vaccination Information & Choice Network
http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/vaccine.htm
http://www.nccn.net/~wwithin/homeo.htm
homeopathycures@tesco.net
ONLINE Introduction to Homeopathy Classes
ONLINE Introduction to Vaccine Dangers Classes
Voicemail US 530-740-0561 UK phone from US 011-44-1874-624-936