Measles

A measles epidemic is still afflicting tens of thousands of children in northern DRC's Equateur and Orientale provinces.

In the past month, MSF teams in the Bunyakiri reagion of Democratic Republic of Congo's South Kivu Province have vaccinated more than 65,000 children aged 6 months to 15 years against measles.

Cases of measles are on the increase in the eastern region of Pakistan’s Balochistan Province.

A measles epidemic is endangering many children in the Democratic Republic of Congo. MSF is treating patients and administering hundreds of thousands of measles vaccinations.

A measles epidemic is spreading throughout a vast region of DRC, and shortages of drugs and health staff are putting hundreds of thousands of children at risk.

Food and water shortages in Chad are exacerbating malnutrition and contributing to the spread of deadly diseases like measles and meningitis.

This update details MSF's recent activities in Africa's Sahel region, where widespread malnutrition and water shortages are exacerbating the outbreaks of diseases like meningitis.

Tensions and hostilities continue unabated between South Sudan and its northern neighbor, Sudan, and MSF is therefore scaling up its emergency response. 

This document gives an overview of MSF activities related to the humanitarian crisis in Somalia and neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia. The data presented, though provisional, account for MSF’s medical activities and financial income and expenditures in this region, while the narrative illustrates how MSF as a medical aid organization responded to this evolving crisis. 

Measles is sweeping unchecked through parts of southern Somalia, where MSF is still waiting for permission from authorities to conduct a vaccination campaign.

José Luis Dvorzak, an MSF doctor, describes his experiences in Ethiopia's Liben refugee camps, and calls attention to the ongoing plight of Somali refugees.

Four-year-old Khalif's uncle brought him 37 miles to Kismayo to receive treatment at MSF's inpatient therapeutic feeding center.

A measles epidemic is spreading. The lack of infrastructure and services is worsening the population’s vulnerability. And civilians have endured new military offensives.

Not long ago, it was tempting to think the battle against measles was being won. Stepped-up vaccination campaigns had driven the number of reported cases down to 32,000 in 2007, according to the World Health Organization, the lowest ever recorded. Over the past three years, however, there has been a resurgence.

Throughout the summer, waves of Somalis set out on desperate, arduous journeys, braving desert heat, hunger, and bandits to seek relief from a catastrophe remarkable even by the standards of this long-troubled country.

After heavy fighting erupted on October 20 in Daynile, on the outskirts of Mogadishu, MSF was forced to suspend its measles vaccination campaign in the area.

Today in Somalia, measles is among the biggest threats to the survival of tens of thousands of vulnerable malnourished children.

To the extent possible given the conditions, MSF is battling cholera and measles outbreaks in and around the town of Marere in southern Somalia

As the Measles Initiative meets in Washington, D.C., MSF is calling for an effective outbreak response mechanism to be established immediately to deal with the rising numbers of severe outbreaks worldwide. 

Despite difficult logistical challenges, MSF has begun an emergency response to the measles epidemic in Maniema.

International health agencies must increase and speed up their response to a measles epidemic rapidly spreading through the Democratic Republic of Congo.

MSF and the DRC's Ministry of Health is vaccinating more than a million children to stem a measles outbreak in Katanga Province.

This past summer, a Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) team conducting measles surveillance in Nigeria followed a rumor to a remote village where 40 children had died of a mysterious illness, and more were falling ill.

Through its Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines, MSF has been closely following the developments in the world of access to medicines, vaccines and diagnostics.

When a number of measles epidemics hit DRC at the same time, MSF began mass treatment and immunization programs in several parts of the country.

Scores of people came to an MSF facility in Malawi in May to get vaccinated for measles.

MSF physician Cameron Bopp returned in July after several months in Africa. Here, he discusses his time in Malawi, during which he was tasked with overseeing the emergency response to the measles outbreak and setting up vaccination programs.

Given the recent upsurge of measles epidemics in stable countries, Thierry Durand, MSF operations director, thinks it necessary to recognize and analyze failures in the prevention of this disease.

Though often left off the list of the most worrisome diseases, measles poses a major danger, particularly to children under five years of age.

In 2009, MSF helped immunize more than 1.5 million children and adolescents in response to measles outbreaks in 10 countries. In 2010, this figure will probably double.

Dr. Neil Stone, a physician from Scotland, is working with MSF to respond to a major measles epidemic in Malawi in southern Africa.

Malawi has been facing its biggest measles epidemic in 13 years. Working with the local health authorities, MSF has launched a vaccination campaign for more than 2.5 million children.

An epidemic of measles is currently raging in the Miandgja, Ngomashi, and Lwibo districts in the Masisi region of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. There are hundreds of thousands of children living in these areas who have not been immunized against measles.  Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has therefore launched a large-scale emergency vaccination campaign and has also treated 130 children who have contracted measles.

MSF is providing treatment to those infected, and has launched a vaccination campaign for approximately 400,000 children between six months and 15 years of age.

Since April, an outbreak of measles has been sweeping through the town of Guri El and nearby areas in the Galgaduud region of South and Central Somalia. So far, MSF has treated 403 patients for measles-related complications in the area.

As intense violence once again rocks Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, teams from Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) continue working throughout the country to provide lifesaving medical care.

Following an outbreak in eastern Chad, MSF is currently vaccinating children between six months and 15 years against measles. As a nurse, Lenny Krommenhoek was part of this vaccination team for five weeks. Following her recent return, she wrote about the enormous logistical challenges she faced during her mission and her very personal experience in this remote part of the world.

On February 18, 2009, MSF started a massive measles vaccination campaign in the district of Adré in Eastern Chad, along the Sudan border. MSF teams have up to today vaccinated 19,000 children against measles.

MSF has mobilized significant human and logistical resources to fight an ongoing measles epidemic in the district of Abéché, Chad.

Both the displaced and the residents in North Kivu lack the most basic living standards, such as good hygiene conditions, clean water, food, and healthcare. As a result, there are disease outbreaks.

Since January, thousands of children have developed measles in Niger. MSF has sent medical teams to Maradi and Zinder, the regions with the highest numbers of measles cases, to prevent the spread of this highly contagious disease.

Atlanta, November 15, 2006 — In research presented at the 55th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH), the international emergency medical aid organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and its research affiliate, Epicentre, showed how rapid, mass vaccinations can reduce the toll inflicted by measles epidemics in Africa. In light of these and other findings, MSF feels there is enough evidence for the WHO to revise its current policy recommendations, which doubts the effectiveness of mass immunization once an epidemic has started, stating that such campaigns would be undertaken too late to have any meaningful impact.

Kinshasa/Brussels, March 13, 2006 - The international humanitarian aid organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is launching a massive measles vaccination campaign in Mbuji Mayi (Kasai Oriental province), the second largest city in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). In only a few weeks, MSF teams will vaccinate an estimated 550,000 children under the age of 5.

On August 24, MSF sent its first team consisting of one medical doctor, one nurse, and two logisticians, to West Sumba in order to investigate reports of a measles outbreak that had killed five people in the sub-district of Kodi. They soon found that the outbreak had already spread into 6 of West Sumba's 15 sub-districts.

After having vaccinated more than 40,000 children in the Bousso district, 186 miles south of N'Djamena, MSF medical teams have now joined their colleagues in the capital of Chad.

April 28, 2005, N’Djamena/New York - A measles epidemic has hit at least three provinces in Southern and Eastern Chad, as well as the capital, N’Djamena. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has started to provide emergency assistance by treating patients with measles, continuing assessments, and carrying out vaccination campaigns.

Over the past 18 months, MSF has vaccinated more than 500,000 children in a continuing campaign against measles in some of the most inaccessible areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). MSF nurse Jessica Nestrell is coordinating the vaccination campaign.

New York, April 28, 2004 - Because of the lack of appropriate, urgently needed aid, the health of displaced people in Sudan's Darfur region - particularly children - is radically worsening, according to the international medical aid organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

Mary Jo Frawley, an American RN and veteran of six MSF field missions, joined an MSF team this winter for a measles vaccination campaign in the remote mountain villages of Tajikistan.