Journal article

Reduced all-cause child mortality after general measles vaccination campaign in rural Guinea-Bissau

Randomised trials have shown that measles vaccine (MV) prevents non-measles deaths. MV-campaigns are conducted to eliminate measles infection.The overall mortality effect of MV-campaigns has not been studied. This study seeks to do just that. It concludes that mortality levels were stable during 2004 and 2005 but a significant drop occurred after the 2006 MV-campaign and was not explained by prevention of measles deaths. If MV-campaigns reduce non-measles related mortality the policies for measles vaccination should take this into account.

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