Pakistan records 103 child measles deaths in 19 days: WHO
24 January, 2013
KARACHI: More than 100 children have died of measles in Pakistan this month, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Wednesday, calling it "an alarming outbreak". "Some 103 Pakistani children have died from January 1-19 this year because of the post-measles complications such as pneumonia, post-measles encephalitis and diarrhoea," WHO spokeswoman Maryam Yunus told reporters. Sixty-three of the cases occurred in the southern province of Sindh, which was hit by severe flooding in 2010, 2011 and 2012. More than 300 Pakistani children died of measles in 2012, a staggering increase on the previous twelve months and a result of three consecutive years of flooding, officials said. The WHO said 64 children died of measles in Pakistan in 2011, 28 of them in Sindh. It was not immediately able to provide statistics for earlier years. The UN body said most of the cases occurred between October and December in northern parts of Sindh, but was unable to provide a breakdown. End.
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