More Killers: Measles and Typhoid

An issue that is rarely covered by the mainstream media is the sheer number of people affected and dying from tropical and infectious diseases—and that this is largely preventable and curable.

More than half a million people, the majority of them children, died from measles in 2003 (the latest years for which figures are available, at time of writing), according to the WHO.

This is despite the fact that effective immunization, which includes vaccine and safe injection equipment, costs just 0.30 US dollars (30 cents) and has been available for more than 40 years.

Additionally, an estimated 600,000 people die from typhoid each year

[Anup Shah]