Special Issue : Symposium of the 57th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Virology
Progress towards the 2012 measles elimination goal in Japan
2010 Volume 60 Issue 1 Pages 59-68
Details
2010 Volume 60 Issue 1 Pages 59-68
The WHO Western Pacific Regional Office including Japan sets 2012 as the target year of the measles elimination. Japan notified " National Measles Elimination Plan in December 2007 " aiming at being eliminate measles from the country by 2012. In 2009, total 741 cases (5.80 per 1,000,000 population) were reported (as of January 7, 2010). It was a remarkable decrease compared with 11,015 cases in 2008. However, the vaccination rate as of the end of 2008 fiscal year (the end of March) doesn't reach 95%. The first vaccination rate was 94%, and the second vaccinations for age groups of 5-6 years, 12-13 years and 17-18 years were 92%, 85%, and 77%, respectively. To prevent the spread of measles and eliminate in Japan, the whole nation recognizes that measles is a serious illness related to the life, and the department of the public health, the education, the medical units, and the research laboratories make an effort aiming at the goal for measles elimination is necessary.
