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In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, health workers launched an emergency measles vaccination campaign in Ebola-affected areas after nearly 2,000 deaths from the preventable disease, two-thirds of them in children under 10 years of age. five years.
At least 1,981 people died of measles in the DRC this year, surpassing 1,641 deaths from Ebola, according to Unicef, a UN agency for the protection of children. The "unprecedented" humanitarian crisis is putting the health system under pressure, UN staff said.
"The combined threat of Ebola and measles for the thousands of families living in overcrowded and unhealthy IDP camps is unprecedented," said Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF spokesman in the DRC. "We have a small window to prevent potentially huge loss of life."
Nearly 115,000 suspected cases of measles were reported for the six-month period ending June 23, nearly double the number recorded for 2018.
"Measles cases have accelerated in Ituri over the last year, mainly because of fighting and mass displacement," said Jerome Pfaffman, Bunia-based UNICEF health specialist in Bunia. of the Northeast Province. "People go to overcrowded and unhealthy camps. With the Ebola outbreak, the health system is under severe strain and represents a major challenge for the government, health officials and partners. "
The measles vaccination campaign targets 67,000 children in Ituri, which is at the center of the second most deadly Ebola outbreak ever recorded. As of July 8, there were 2,428 cases of Ebola, of which about 30% were in children.
Fighting intensified in Ituri, with the massive influx of families forcibly displaced by the conflict in recent weeks. An estimated 400,000 people have been displaced, the vast majority of them women and children.
Pfaffman said that 250 specially trained staff members had been mobilized to deal with the outbreak in Bunia. Additional measures were needed to protect workers and patients against Ebola and to detect it, he said.
"Front-line workers need additional protection against infection and careful triage," Pfaffman said.
The deployment of the program will be even more complicated because some of the first symptoms of Ebola, including fever, eye redness and diarrhea, are almost identical to those of measles, malaria and cholera, all of which are common in women. camps.
The first sites targeted by the program are four IDP camps in Bunia. The boundary of one of the camps is less than 100 meters from an Ebola treatment center and less than 3 km from parts of Bunia where there have been five cases of Ebola since the beginning of the epidemic, including two in the last three weeks.
Measles campaigns are also planned in the Tchomia and Nyankunde health zones.
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