Geneva - Worldwide measles deaths have dropped 48 percent in six years as immunisation efforts reach more children in sub-Saharan Africa, the United Nations says.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and UN Children's Fund (Unicef) said the fall in deaths to 454 000 in 2004 from 871 000 in 1999 was "an outstanding public health success story".
"If progress continues at this rate, the global goal to cut measles deaths by half (between 1999 and 2005) will have been achieved in time," said WHO Director-General Lee Jong-wook.
A safe, cheap and effective measles vaccine has been available since the 1960s, but the highly infectious disease is still a major killer of children in developing countries.
About 410 000 children under the age of five died from measles in 2004, many from complications related to severe diarrhoea and pneumonia, the UN agencies said in a joint statement.
Donors, including the United States, Japan, Britain, Canada and Norway and a group of international agencies, had raised more than $150-million since 2001 to extend access to measles vaccines in poor countries, said the UN.