News & Events
Becton Dickinson Donation Supports Romanian Measles Elimination Campaign
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Bucharest, Romania (October 22, 1998) -- In a world where far too many children still suffer and die from measles infection, Becton Dickinson has stepped up to help. Romanian children are malnourished and highly susceptible to the effects of measles. A major measles epidemic occurs about every three years there, with the last outbreak resulting in over 30,000 cases and 16 deaths. There is every reason to believe that there will be another epidemic in 2001, unless broad immunization of children begins now. To beat this cycle of suffering and death, a mass vaccination campaign will reach over 3 million Romanian children over the next three months. Becton Dickinson has donated a large quantity of safety disposal containers, enough to accommodate all syringes used in the school-based, countrywide campaign, thereby helping to ensure that they are disposed of safely. The International Federation of Red Cross Societies (IFRC) organized the program in conjunction with The Romanian Ministry of Health. The IFRC has mobilized international support for the effort, including the involvement of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The 1998 program aims to stop the spread of measles in Romanian children so that by that by 2000 there will be no deaths from locally acquired acute measles, and the disease can be eliminated by 2007.
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