A Rohinyga boy from Myanmar reacts as he receives vaccinations against measles and tetanus from Indonesian health department personnel at the newly set up confinement area in Bayeun, Aceh province on May 22, 2015 after more than 400 Rohingya migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh were rescued by Indonesian fishermen off the waters of the province on May 20. The widespread persecution of the impoverished community in Rakhine state is one of the primary causes for the current regional exodus, alongside growing numbers trying to escape poverty in neighbouring Bangladesh. AFP PHOTO / ROMEO GACAD (Photo credit should read ROMEO GACAD/AFP/Getty Images)
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How measles was eliminated and then came back
02:55 - Source: CNN
CNN  — 

More than 4,000 people have died from a measles outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo this year, UNICEF, the United Nations’ children’s agency, said on Wednesday.

There have been 203,179 cases of the preventable illness across the country, and nearly 90% of the 4,096 deaths were children under the age of 5.

A motorcycle taxi driver gets his hands washed with a chlorine solution at a checkpoint between Beni and Butembo in Eastern DRC. Temperatures are also checked and possible Ebola isolated. Still, many Ebola victims have travelled far distances and infected new parts of North Kivu and Ituri provinces.
A motorcycle taxi driver gets his hands washed with a chlorine solution at a checkpoint between Beni and Butembo in Eastern DRC. Temperatures are also checked and possible Ebola isolated. Still, many Ebola victims have travelled far distances and infected new parts of North Kivu and Ituri provinces.
David McKenzie/CNN

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“The number of measles cases in DRC this year is more than triple the number recorded for all of 2018. The measles outbreak in DRC has become far deadlier than Ebola, which to date, has taken 2,143 lives,” UNICEF said in a statement.

According to the World Health Organization, roughly 95% of a population needs to be vaccinated with two doses of the measles vaccine to ensure herd immunity. In Congo, measles immunization coverage was only 57% in 2018, UNICEF said.

“We’re facing this alarming situation because millions of Congolese children miss out on routine immunization and lack access to health care when they fall sick,” said Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF representative in DRC.

shot in Antananarivo, Madagascar IMGL0735- Credit: Brent Swails/CNN Jean Claude Nambinintsoa travelled for twenty-four hours in a mini-bus taxi to get his son Pierrot to the hospital. ÒI was hoping to get him vaccinated,Ó he says as Pierrot clings to his neck, gently caressing his ear, Òbut when I got here they said that my son already had measles.Ó He says that many children in his village got sick.
shot in Antananarivo, Madagascar IMGL0735- Credit: Brent Swails/CNN Jean Claude Nambinintsoa travelled for twenty-four hours in a mini-bus taxi to get his son Pierrot to the hospital. ÒI was hoping to get him vaccinated,Ó he says as Pierrot clings to his neck, gently caressing his ear, Òbut when I got here they said that my son already had measles.Ó He says that many children in his village got sick.
Brent Swails/CNN

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“On top of that, a weak health system, insecurity, community mistrust of vaccines and vaccinators and logistical challenges all contribute to a huge number of unvaccinated children at risk of contracting the disease.”

UNICEF said it was scrambling to vaccinate more children against measles and rushing life-saving medicines to health centers to help prevent deaths. WHO said last month that it was working with the government in Congo and other groups to launch an emergency campaign to vaccinate 825,000 children.

Measles is highly contagious, spreading through coughing and sneezing. Up to 90% of the people close to the infected person, who are not immune, will also become infected. Unvaccinated young children are at highest risk of measles and its complications, including death, according to WHO.

Congo is currently facing the world’s second largest Ebola epidemic on record. Ebola is much less contagious, but has a fatality rate of more than 70%.

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WHO reported in August that there had been almost three times as many measles cases in 2019 as had been reported by the same time in 2018. Congo, Madagascar and Ukraine had reported the highest numbers, and major outbreaks were ongoing in Angola, Cameroon, Chad, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Philippines, South Sudan, Sudan and Thailand. The largest outbreaks are in countries with low measles vaccination coverage.