Médecins Sans Frontières - Measles in Katanga

Unique Identifier Code / URN MSF147803

Date taken / Date Recorded 19/06/2015 12:00 AM

Country Democratic Republic of Congo

Commissioning section MSF-FRANCE

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Additional Information / Shotlist Since last March a measles epidemic, the worst since 2011 is raging in Katanga, in the south of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). If, thanks to vaccination, the disease has almost disappeared in Western countries, it remains lethal to unprotected populations, including children.
"Measles is almost endemic in Katanga. A significant increase in the number of cases was recorded in early March 2015, mainly in the Malemba Nkulu health zone. During April, MSF conducted an assessment of the situation.
In the health area, located in the health district of Haut Lomani, the population is estimated at about 307 908 inhabitants. Number of confirmed new cases rapidly increased from 400 to 800 per week and there has even been a week during which we were over 1 100. This is a large epidemic. Medical teams had to deal with a massive influx of seriously ill patients.
The first week, we recorded a mortality rate of nearly 19% in the Measles Treatment Centre (CTR). This is explained by the fact that we receive children with measles complicated co-infections (respiratory, cerebral malaria) and often already weakened by conditions such as malnutrition or malaria. Fortunately, by the second week we divided this mortality but it is still very high.
Between April 20 and May 20, through the distribution of treatments in support of 19 of the 23 health centers in the area, we have enabled them to treat more than 4,000 simple cases as outpatients.
For more complicated cases, we set up a referral system through mototaxis to the measles treatment center (CTR) in Malemba. It has a capacity of 50 beds, including 38 dedicated to hospitalization and 12 to intensive care. In a month, the CTR has admitted 342 children in 9 out of 10 were younger than 5 years.
Finally, since 20 May, we vaccinated all children aged 6 months to 10 years of Malemba Nkulu health zone; a total of 101,540.
One of the biggest challenges today is to control the epidemic in ten health zones very close to each other. The major issues are concerning logistics and human resources available, but also to have sufficient quantities of vaccines to protect almost 600 000 children. The location of these health areas, particularly difficult to access, will impact the duration of the campaign.
We adapt our operations taking into account our experience in 2011, the year of the epidemic during which we had vaccinated nearly 1.5 million children.” explain Dr Louis Albert Massing, medical coordinator in DRC.