The consortium of organizations known as the Measles Initiative announced today that after a dedicated vaccination campaign was carried out involving the immunization of 700 million children, the number of deaths caused by measles fell 78% from 200 to 2008.

Almost all areas of the world, with the exception of Southeast Asia, have met their goal of a 90% reduction in deaths by 2010 two years early.

The vaccinations have prevented about 4.3 million deaths from the disease. In the Southeast Asia measles deaths reduced only 46% largely because of delays in implementing vaccination campaigns in India.

Ann M. Veneman, executive director of UNICEF, a member of the initiative, which also includes the American Red Cross, the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United Nations Foundation and the World Health Organization said, that 3 out of the 4 measles deaths are from India.

Next year about half the states in India plan to start a vaccination program. The new data were published in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.