Médecins Sans Frontières - CAR - Measles epidemic in the east (ENG)

Unique Identifier Code / URN MSF144308

Date taken / Date Recorded 25/03/2015 12:00 AM

Country Central African Republic

Commissioning section MSF-FRANCE

Photographer / videographer / producer Marta Soszynska

Copyright MSF

Usage Rights (MSF) Internal Use Only

Formal Consent Copy available no

Editor's rating ★★★★★ (C)

Video format h264 (Constrained Baseline) (avc1 / 0x31637661)

Duration 2m15s

Maximum Size 1920px × 1080px 133.33 MB

Additional Information / Shotlist Central African Republic
Bria, in east Central African Republic, hit by a measles epidemic.
229 cases of measles were recorded in January and February. Over half of those affected were children under the age of five.
Mass immunisation campaigns can be a real logistical challenge.
Yet it is absolutely vital they be carried out - including in unstable regions where there are areas that are too dangerous to work in, where there's a shortage of health workers and where roads are often impassable …. Without vaccination campaigns, there could well be a major measles epidemic affecting thousands of very young children. At the end of March, MSF’s teams in Bria in east Central African Republic started vaccinating children aged between six months and 15 years.

Aurore Taconet, project coordinator, MSF (woman in French)
Our campaign here in Bria is targeting 15,000 children.
At the same time as we immunise against measles, we screen for malnutrition. Children who are found to be sick are referred to the hospital.

The conflict that has spread through this ravaged country has left the health system in ruins. And the east of the country, a stronghold of former Seleka rebels, is just as badly affected. The all too few humanitarian and medical aid agencies here are unable to cope with the many health issues such as measles epidemics.

Albert Essoun, nursing care manager, MSF (man in French)
We’re seeing this epidemic because political instability caused the population to be displaced (…) So people don’t have access to healthcare and can’t take their children to get vaccinated (…) They’re scared to leave their homes to go to health centres (…) It takes just one case to go un-noticed for measles to spread like wildfire

In August 2013, MSF was working in Bria responding to the seasonal malaria peak… The programme was was scheduled to last a few months. But meanwhile, the country was descending into a spiral of violence, and the few remaining medical facilities were no longer functioning. Two years on, the situation remains critical … And the teams don’t expect to leave Bria any time soon.