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There’s been a lot of exciting news from the Measles & Rubella Partnership.

We recently announced the good news about global measles mortality – down 74% between 2000 and 2010 according to the latest Lancet study.

In real terms about 535,000 children died of measles in 2000. By 2010 intensified measles vaccination efforts had reduced this to an estimated 139,000. This is strong progress to be sure, but the reality is that 380 kids still die of measles every single day. Most of these children live in India and in sub-Saharan Africa. There’s still a lot of work to do to reach all children and reduce measles deaths by 95% by 2015.

There is also tremendous resolve. The partners of the Measles & Rubella Partnership have launched a new Global Measles & Rubella Strategic Plan 2012-2020, which contains the blueprint to eliminate these two viruses from most countries of the world by 2020.

We also wanted to make the plan more transportable and have created a multimedia iPad version. Be sure to tell us what you think.

We’ll write much more about the state of measles, rubella and congenital rubella syndrome in future blogs.

Today we invite you to watch our new video, and if you’re not already on our list, subscribe to the e-newsletter, where you will learn the latest on the efforts to stop measles, rubella and congenital rubella syndrome.

You can always check our website for ways you can help. It costs less than $1.50 to protect a child against measles and rubella.