The impact of national measles immunization programme on measles admissions to the major children's hospital in Yangon.

To ascertain whether measles vaccination was associated with reduced measles associated mortality and morbidity in the Yangon Children's Hospital (YCH), the hospital records of children admitted to YCH in 1985 and 1989 with the diagnosis of measles or measles associated conditions, were analysed retrospectively. Measles vaccination was associated with a 90.7% reduction of deaths directly attributed to measles or ascribed to diarrhoea, respiratory illness, malnutrition or fits. An 85% reduction in the percentage of medical admissions related to measles and measles associated conditions was also seen. The case-fatality rate from measles declined from 25.3% to 15.6%. We conclude that measles immunization has been associated with a marked reduction in morbidity and mortality.