Tanzanian Measles Fundraiser was a Success, Despite the Rain

By Josiah Brownell, Volunteer Journalist / Writer

Ms. Secelela Malecela (left) gathers the envelope donations from the Tanzanian measles vaccination campaign fundraiser. Gerry Jones, Vice President of Red Cross International Services accepts a donation of more than $1,500 for the Measles Initiative from Ngosha S. Magonya, Minister Plenipotentiary (Economic, Trade and Invest), Embassy of the United Republic of Tanzania

Red Cross employees, Tanzanian nationals and other invitees attended a fundraiser at the Tanzanian Ambassador's residence on October 17 to raise awareness about the measles crisis in sub-Saharan Africa. The event kicked off the upcoming Tanzanian vaccination campaign which began October 19 and helped raise the necessary funds needed to conduct the mass vaccinations that are a part of the Red Cross Measles Initiative.

Measles is the leading vaccine-preventable childhood killer in the world today. This disease, while barely remembered as a real threat by most Americans, still kills one million children each year overseas, nearly half of those deaths in Africa alone. In fact, measles is the single leading vaccine-preventable cause of death among children in Africa-more than AIDS, tuberculosis, and malnutrition.

Approximately 50 people attended the event at the home of the Tanzanian Ambassador, including the manager of the Measles initiative, Marianne Patton, and the vice president of Red Cross International Services, Gerry Jones.

Speakers at the event, including Secelela Malecela, president of the Washington Metro Area Tanzanian Association; Red Cross Vice President Gerry Jones; Millicent Obaso, senior officer of the Africa Women's Initiative for the American Red Cross; and Ambassador Daraja, explained the need for comprehensive vaccinations in sub-Saharan Africa, and specifically discussed the Tanzanian measles campaign. With the cost of vaccinating one child as low as just one U.S. dollar, Ambassador Daraja appealed to the crowd to, "fetch your soul, then fetch your pocket."

The Measles initiative is modeled on the two-fold global polio eradication strategy, which includes repeated mass vaccination campaigns reinforced by routine follow-up vaccinations. The goal of the Initiative is to vaccinate 200 million children through both mass campaigns and follow-up campaigns in up to 36 sub-Saharan African countries, including Tanzania. It is hoped that by 2005 approximately 1.2 million deaths will have been prevented by the vaccinations, bringing measles deaths in Africa to near zero. Partners in the initiative include the American Red Cross, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, countries and governments afflicted by measles, CDC, UN Foundation, UNICEF and WHO.

The speeches at the event containied more than impersonal policy statements and grim statistics. Millicent Obaso, who leads the Africa Women's Initiative for the American Red Cross, told the emotional story of how her own daughter, Sharon, barely recovered from the dreaded disease when she was four-years-old. Sharon Obaso, now a student at Howard University, reluctantly stepped forward to be acknowledged at the conclusion of her mother's story. Obaso ended her speech by leading the mostly Tanzanian crowd in the singing of a Swahili clap-a-long song titled "Harambee" (pronounced ha-RAHM-bay), which roughly translates to "pull together."

Following the African campaign, the Red Cross and its partners will begin mass measles vaccination campaigns in other regions still afflicted by the disease. It is the hope of the Red Cross that following these efforts, measles will soon join smallpox and polio as nothing more than horrible memories of an earlier time.

Related Links

Interactive: Journey through Kenya on the Measles Vaccination Campaign

The Measles Initiative