Japan fails to get measles-free country status
The World Health Organization has declined to certify Japan as free of measles.
A Japanese expert on infectious disease control, Nobuhiko Okabe, says the WHO did not accept Japan’s request to recognize the eradication of measles in the country at a meeting last month.
Okabe says WHO officials are thought to have taken issue with what they saw as Japan’s insufficiency of research on infectious routes.
The WHO recognized the eradication of the disease in Australia, Mongolia, South Korea and Macau.
Okabe says Japan has made the efforts to eliminate the virus, but he says the WHO refusal to certify Japan means the efforts are not enough by international standards. He says local and national governments need to do more.
Source: News On Japan
Published: 16 Apr 2014
