For months, thousands of families fleeing the clashes with the M23 have found refuge in informal sites at the gates of Goma.

The health of the population is affected by the deplorable sanitary conditions at these IDP sites. After a cholera epidemic was declared in December 2022, suspected cases of measles began to increase in early January. This situation is not surprising given that this disease is one of the most contagious in the world and that the crowded conditions of children in IDP sites are conducive to the rapid spread of cases. As of February 10, more than 200 children with measles symptoms had already been treated by MSF in the Kanyaruchinya and Munigi health centers. Three weeks later, nearly 900 cases had been reported in the Nyiragongo health zone, of which more than three-quarters had been treated by our teams.

To reduce the transmission of this virus, a vaccination campaign was quickly set up in collaboration with the health authorities in the Nyiragongo health zone to prevent new cases among children, many of whom are weakened by the precarious conditions in the sites. Launched on February 28, the vaccination campaign aims to vaccinate nearly 100,000 children between the ages of 6 months and 10 years in 19 sites in the health areas of Kibati, Munigi, and Kanyaruchinya, located in the Nyiragongo health zone, where the majority of displaced people live.