The government has expressed hope of receiving a certificate from the World Health Organisation (WHO) after joining the rank of countries which have eradicated measles, after starting a nationwide campaign set to combat the disease.
Over 70,000 people are set to be vaccinated all over the country as part of the program.
At the press conference held after the initiation of the anti measles campaign, Dr. Abdul Azeez Yusuf said that only those between 15 and 25 will be vaccinated for the disease, and stated that there are close to 75,000 people fitting that category in the Maldives.
Azeez also said that just the vaccinations would not establish Maldives as measles free country, and noted the various research along with other efforts would have to be undertaken to ensure the elimination of the disease from the Maldives. He said that however, the nation was likely to receive the certificate after meeting the WHO guidelines toward the end of this year.
"The WHO conditions that not a single case of measles must be reported within the past three years. However, an year without a report will be adequate as well. No case of measles has been reported in the Maldives for the past seven years. So Maldives is leading among the other countries in this region in the elimination of this disease," Azeez stated.
Azeez informed that the campaign would continue for the next two weeks, after which a WHO verification team would arrive in the Maldives to determine if the disease had been eradicated in the Maldives.
The last reported case of measles had come up in the Maldives in 2010, and an endemic was last reported in 2005. Measles, a disease which can be successfully prevented through vaccination, is highly contagious and can be fatal.
Doctors will be working in coalition with the Health Ministry all around the nation to vaccinate citizens for this disease. The Health Ministry said that there were no plans as of yet to vaccinate Maldivians living abroad.
