Eight people are dead after an outbreak of measles infected over 2,500 people in Romania.

Vaccinations against measles, mumps and rubella are mandatory for children aged 1-7

GlaxoSmithKline Plc plans to develop an experimental AIDS vaccine, using the measles. Europe's biggest drug maker and France's Institut Pasteur intend to develop the vaccine by fusing genes from the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) onto an existing vaccine for the childhood disease.

Glaxo's vaccines unit, GSK Biologicals, will license the measles vaccine carrier, technology from Institut Pasteur, and researchers from both groups will jointly develop the new vaccine

A U.N. report released Tuesday shows hunger and malnutrition kill nearly 6 million children a year, and more people are malnourished in sub-Saharan Africa this decade, than in the 1990s.

Many children die from treatable diseases, namely: diarrhea, pneumonia, malaria and measles, according to the report by the Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization

UNICEF warns thousands of children in regions devastated by South Asia's earthquake are at risk of death from cold, malnutrition and disease.

The U.N. agency says in the weeks ahead, the international relief effort must focus on keeping children alive

The United Nation's children's agency reports about 1.4 million children under the age of five die unnecessarily each year from measles, whooping cough, and other diseases preventable by vaccines.

According to the report, about 130 million children are born each year, and since 1990, about 70-ercent have received the vital immunizations - up from some 20-percent under the age of 1 in 1980