Port-au-Prince.– Haiti's largest vaccination effort in history –aimed at more than 5 million children and youths– will be kicked off with a new public service announcement (PSA) featuring Haitian musician, producer and writer Wyclef Jean, a founding member of the ALAS Foundation.

The PSA, produced by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) in association with ALAS, is aimed at boosting participation in the upcoming campaign to vaccinate young Haitians against measles and rubella. In the announcement, Jean urges Haitian parents to take their children and adolescents to get vaccinated as "an act of love."

The PSA promotes the campaign's second phase, which starts in June and targets young people ages 1 to 19 in urban areas. The first phase, launched last November, targeted young people in rural communities.

With the Creole slogan of Ann Al Vaksinen ("Get Vaccinated"), Haitian health workers in the first phase of the campaign delivered vaccines to an estimated 2.3 million young people in rural areas and some urban schools. Children aged 1 to 4 received vitamin A supplements, and school-aged children were also given antiparasitics. In the second phase, health officials hope to reach an additional 1.8 million youths.

The immunization campaign is aimed at advancing toward elimination of rubella and congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) in Haiti and consolidating the country's elimination of measles. The effort is expected to prevent more than 1,200 CRS cases over the next decade and is part of a larger effort by the countries of the Americas to eliminate both rubella and CRS regionwide by 2010.