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Context: Inner-city immunization rates have lagged behind those in other areas of the country.Objective: To evaluate the impact of an initiative linking immunization with distribution of food vouchers in the inner city.Design: Retrospective analysis of immunization data gathered in 1996 and 1997.Setting: Nineteen Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) sites serving 30% of the Chicago, III, birth cohort.Participants: A total of 16581 children 24 months old or younger.Interventions: Voucher incentives (varying frequency of food voucher issuance based on immunization status) and assessment of immunization status and referral to immunization provider.Main Outcome Measures: Age-appropriate immunization rates and WIC enrollment rates.Results: During the 15-month period of evaluation, immunization rates increased from 56% to 89% at sites performing voucher incentives. The proportion of children needing voucher incentives declined from 51% to 12%. Sites performing assessment and referral, but not providing voucher incentives, showed no evidence of improvement in immunization coverage. No difference was observed in enrollment rates between sites performing voucher incentives and those that did not.Conclusion: Applied in a large-scale, programmatic fashion, voucher incentives in WIC can rapidly increase and sustain high childhood immunization rates in an inner-city population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article provides details on activities geared toward the reduction of global measles mortality from 2000 to 2008. Information on the goal of the United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goals is presented. Estimates during 2000 to 2008 showed that global measles mortality was reduced by 78%, from an estimated 733,000 deaths in 2000 to 164,000 in 2008. Opportunities for measles immunization during 2000-2008 are detailed. It enumerates the accelerated strategy for measles mortality reduction. Also noted are the potential consequences of decreased financial support. INSET: What is already known on this topic?.

This article presents news from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC examines the progress in eliminating measles and death from the disease around the world during 2000-2006. The goal set by The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) was to vaccinate 90 percent of the children in 47 priority countries before the age of one year, to make sure a booster was available, to monitor coverage and to provide clinical management. The efforts have resulted in a 60 percent reduction in measles mortality which exceeded the stated goals of 50 percent reduction by 2005.

The article focuses on the results of global measles immunization and surveillance activities which were conducted between 2000 and 2007 by the World Health Organization (WHO) and Unicef. The surveillance was conducted in an effort to determine the progress which had been made in reaching a goal which was initiated by the World Health Organization to achieve a 90% reduction in measles mortality by 2010.The goal was part of a WHO-Unicef strategy for measles mortality reduction which was initiated for 47 priority countries.