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Measles Documentary Premieres in Washington, D.C.
Written by
Mason Booth
, Staff Writer, RedCross.org
Monday, September 29, 2003 — Hurricane Isabel’s winds weren’t the only ones generating attention in the nation’s capital recently. On September 17, representatives from the American Red Cross joined partners and donors at the Motion Picture Association of America in Washington, D.C., for the premiere of “Disease of the Wind” – a documentary that chronicles the scourge of measles in Africa through the eyes of actress Jane Seymour and eight Los Angeles students.
A long-time volunteer with the British Red Cross, Seymour joined the American Red Cross National Celebrity Cabinet in February, 2001. Like millions of people in the Western world, Seymour knew of measles, but was unaware of the problem it still posed globally - until she was introduced to the Measles Initiative, an American Red Cross-led program designed to rid Africa of one of its leading childhood killers.
”You look at the world today and feel so helpless because there are so many things out of your control. Measles isn’t one of them. Each year it kills almost 800,000 children, nearly half of whom live in Africa. But we can prevent nearly all of these deaths with a vaccine that costs less than $1 per child,” Seymour said.
Marsha J. Evans, President and CEO of the American Red Cross, thanked actress Jane Seymour for her exceptional support of the Measles Initiative.
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Determined to spread the word about the continued curse of measles, Seymour volunteered to take part in a seven-day humanitarian journey to Kenya in June, 2001, with the American Red Cross and participate firsthand in a Measles Initiative mass vaccination campaign.
“I’ve never been one to stand back and watch things happen,” Seymour said. “I want to lead by example and get involved.”
That journey was captured in the documentary “Disease of the Wind”, written and directed by Seymour’s husband James Keach, who also suggested that U.S. schoolchildren join the campaign.
”It was an amazing thing to capture – to watch as the students learn not only about how measles ravages African families, but also their surprise at the hopefulness and optimism of the Kenyans. You can actually watch the schoolchildren change and start to view themselves and their own lives differently as the film progresses,” Keach said.
The impact of the visit was equally as powerful to Seymour.
“We witnessed schoolchildren singing songs about measles and putting on community plays where a ‘devil’ character representing measles teaches mothers and fathers about the importance of vaccination. Most importantly, we talked to families about their daily lives and how measles affects them. I actually heard that some mothers won’t name their children until they have had measles because so many children die from it in early childhood,” she said.
By the weeklong campaign in Kenya, nearly 13 and a half million youth, or 97.9 percent of Kenya’s children, received vaccinations, saving 18,000 lives.
Alysa Campos and Daniel Artis, two students featured in the film, described their life-altering trip to Kenya to Marsha J. Evans, American Red Cross President and CEO.
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By the end of Wednesday’s screening, few viewers’ eyes were dry and hope and optimism of the Kenyan people had spread to the American Red Cross and its partners – the United Nations Foundation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United Nations Children’s Fund, World Health Organization and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies – all dedicated to combating the spread of infectious disease in an increasingly small world.
As the young Masai poet says at the film’s end, “Perhaps if we shed these words of age, color, tongue or creed; the pleas and the cries of the African child, the world will consider and heed.” For more information about Disease of the Wind visit http://www.measlesinitiative.org/wind.asp
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