Imagine a disease so contagious that a single infected person riding on a crowded bus will unknowingly spread the virus to 90 out of 100 unvaccinated passengers. Of those infected, more than 10 percent will die while up to 30 percent of survivors will suffer permanent complications, such as hearing or vision loss, brain damage, pneumonia, vitamin A deficiency or encephalitis. Tragically, this disease is real and claims the lives of nearly 90,000 people every year, most of them children. It is called measles.
A flicker of hope. With proper immunizations, measles can be eliminated. That’s why Lions and the Lions Club International Foundation (LCIF) joined the Measles Initiative—a mass vaccination campaign across 31 countries and counting. Because of the Lions’ advocacy program, we’re able to mobilize people from the grassroots to the highest level of the government.