The Samoa government has allocated $US2.5 million to help relief work around the measles epidemic.

Photo: RNZ Pacific / Jenny Meyer

The Minister of Finance, Sili Epa Tuioti, said the money would be spent to meet several needs such as upgrading hospitals.

There have been at least 44 measles-related deaths since the outbreak last month, most of the dead being children under four years old.

The Prime Minister, Tuila'epa Sa'ilele Malielegaoi, said next month the government would table in Parliament a proposed legislation that would impose penalties against parents who ignored the compulsory vaccination order that had been ordered.

He said Parliament would urgently discuss and pass the legislation in the coming weeks to make sure it became law by January.