Aid agencies hail millions of measles vaccinations in NKorea

More than 16 million children and adults have been vaccinated against measles in
North Korea in the last two months, marking one of the fastest responses to a major outbreak of the disease, international relief agencies said on Friday.

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organisation and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies funded and organised the campaign after a request from the North Korean authorities in February.
"This was a remarkable example of good cooperation between different organisations," said Jaap Timmer, head of the Red Cross delegation in the authoritarian and secretive communist state.

"The local Red Cross volunteers, who have been trained in first aid and community health, reinforced the vaccination teams to enable them to finish the two phases in such a short period of time," he added.

Measles made its first appearance in a decade in North Korea last November, leading to four deaths and 3,600 infections.