ACAM names Dr. Mark Grabowsky as its first Person of the Year 2005

Mark Grabowsky is a Senior Advisor for International Services Division at the American Red Cross.He is an officer in the Public Health Service on
loan from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and has spent the last decade working on vaccine preventable diseases, mostly in Africa.
His principal responsibility is managing the Measles Initiative, an effort to eliminate measles mortality in Africa. Previous assignments serving as a WHO
medical officer in Uganda for EPI focusing on polio and measles control, at the National Institutes of Health as Chief of Clinical Development for HIV
Vaccines, and Chief Medical Officer for HIV Prevention Research. He graduated from the Medical College of Virginia in 1986, received a Masters in
Public Health from Johns Hopkins in 1990 and served as a fellow in immunization at WHO/EPI in Geneva. He has published over 25 scientific articles
on immunization.

While teaching as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kenya in 1979, Mark realized that the health of his students limited their ability to learn and to be
successful. Many of the diseases from which they suffered – malaria, measles, intestinal parasites – were preventable and treatable but no effective
system of delivering the means of prevention or treatment were available. His work has focused on developing and refining interventions
(such as measles vaccines) and developing approaches to making these available (such as mass distribution). Following on the success of the Measles
Initiative in Africa – where 150 million children were vaccinated in four years – Dr. Grabowsky sought to demonstrate that mass distribution would be
effective for other health services. Using methods of product development from clinical research, he developed and conducted a strategy for showing
that mass distribution of ITNs during measles campaigns was safe, effective and cost-efficient. Working with numerous collaborators, the Phase I study
– a proof of concept - was conducted in one district in Ghana in 2002 and showed that very high levels of ITN distribution could be achieved safely and
rapidly. In 2003, the Phase II study in five districts in Zambia showed that similar high levels of coverage could be achieved on a broader scale. In 2004,
a Phase III study was initiated in Togo to demonstrate tat nation-wide distribution could be achieved and to closely evaluate costs and impact on
morbidity and mortality

SO FAR…

• The Measles Initiative has vaccinated 150 million children in Africa, saving more than 300,000 lives.
• The Initiative has reached its halfway point ahead of schedule by 20 million chlidren.
• The Initiative has held vaccination campaigns in more than 33 African countries.
• The Initiative is ahead of schedule, under budget and exceeding its targets.

TODAY…

• The Initiative is on target to reach its goal of vaccinating 200 million children by 2006.
• The Initiative is integrating other life-saving interventions into some campaigns including polio vaccinations, vitamin A distribution and more
• The Initiative’s method has been so successful in reaching more than 95% of all at-risk children with the measles vaccine, that public health
  officials are testing the same method to prevent malaria, Africa’s leading killer of children.

NEXT STEPS…

• For the first time ever, insecticide-treated bed nets were distributed nationwide in Togo this past December using the
  Initiative’s method of mass vaccination campaigns (730,000 nets)
• Thirteen countries are scheduled to host vaccination campaigns in 2005
• 2005 targets: 45 million children vaccinated; 294,000 lives saved

BACKGROUND

Launched in February 2001, the Measles Initiative is a long-term commitment to control measles deaths in Africa by vaccinating 200 million children and preventing 1.2 million deaths over five years. Leading this effort are the American Red Cross, United Nations Foundation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the World Health Organization (WHO). Other key players in the fight against measles include the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and countries and governments affected by measles. While the Measles Initiative is focused in Africa where the majority of measles-related deaths occur, partners also work on a wide-range of health initiatives around the world, including
measles control and other vaccination services outside of Africa.

Measles is the leading vaccine-preventable childhood killer in the world

• Each year, 44 million children suffer from measles and one million die from the disease
• In Africa alone, 200 million children are at risk from measles
• More than 12 million cases occur and 450,000 children succumb to the disease in Africa

Mass measles vaccination campaigns will be conducted in countries throughout Africa to accomplish this ambitious goal.

• Mass vaccination campaigns are carried out for several days for children under 15 years of age
• Follow-up campaigns occur three to four years after the initial mass campaigns for children under 5 yeas

www.measlesinitiative.org