Immunizations are not required to visit China, but it is best to take several vaccinations before attending the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing from Aug. 8 to Aug. 24.

"Taking a few minutes to make sure you have the proper vaccinations will give a better chance of avoiding any dangerous medical problems when you're far from home," said Debra Amos, a travel nurse with The Methodist Hospital Wellness Services in Houston

Philippine-based World Health Organization on Tuesday warned the Philippine government that at least 6,000 children each year were exposed to deaths due to measles unless health agencies beef up its immunization program and prevent an epidemic.

In a statement released from its headquarters in Manila, WHO said measles will continue to spread throughout the Philippines and told the government to have more children vaccinated. A measles outbreak has plagued the Philippines for almost a year despite government efforts to curb the disease

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) of Britain is warning parents over the rising number of measles cases in children this year.

The agency is also urging parents to make sure their children have both shots measles, mumps and rubella or MMR before they return to school

About four in 10 infants aged up to five months are exclusively breastfed, eight out of 10 households consume iodized salt, eight in 10 children attend primary schools and nine in 10 children aged 12-23 months are immunized against measles, according to the findings of the Bangladesh Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2006, released in the capital, Dhaka on Wednesday.

MICS is an international household survey designed by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to assist countries plug data gaps for monitoring human development in general and the situation of children and women in particular

Pfizer, the largest manufacturer of drugs in the United States, on Thursday has come up in its defence against the alleged lawsuit filed by the Nigerian authorities in drug abuse case.

The U.S. drug major now says that it had received a written approval from Nigerian authorities before administering Trovan- a drug that claimed the lives of 11 children in the northern Kano state in 1996