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The Minister of Health of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has declared a measles epidemic. The country is already struggling to contain the deadly outbreak of Ebola since last August.
Medical teams confirmed 677 measles cases out of 87,000 suspected cases in 23 provinces, said Oly Ilunga Kalenga in a statement on Monday.
This total represents a seven-fold increase over the same period in 2018, he added. He urged parents to vaccinate their children.
In April, 2.24 million children aged six to 59 months were vaccinated in four days and a new vaccination campaign covering 1.4 million children will be launched "in the coming days", a he declared.
"To end the chain of measles transmission and prevent future epidemics, at least 95% of the population must be vaccinated," said the minister.
The Ebola outbreak in the DRC, in the east of the country, has claimed more than 1,300 lives since August 1st.
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