UNICEF starts vaccination campaign in Haiti

A vaccination programme is now underway in Haiti to prevent the spread of measles and other diseases among children living in makeshift camps.

The United Nations Children's Fund, along with a group of Cuban doctors and the Haitian Health Ministry, launched the vaccination campaign at the Port-au-Prince stadium. A temporary camp for survivors of the January 12th earthquake has sprung up there. Children under the age of seven are also receiving vaccinations for tetanus and diphtheria. UNICEF and its partners plan to reach at least 600,000 children across Haiti.

Page Kent, spokesman of UNICEF, said, "It's very important that we do this because we want to avoid is that there is an outbreak of measles in any of the makeshift camps that are spread out throughout the city. Measles can be a killer of children and we have to make sure, and it spreads like wildfire so we are doing this as a lifesaving preventive intervention."