Meningitis, measles immunisation underway

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and the Central African Republic (CAR) Ministry of Health have conducted immunisation drives against meningitis and measles in several parts of the country, officials told IRIN on Wednesday.

MSF coordinator Carlos Recio said that MSF, in collaboration with the UN World Health Organization and the Ministry of Health, was immunizing the people in the northwestern sub-prefecture of Boguila against meningitis "A".

MSF undertook the immunisation campaign after 39 cases of meningitis, including five deaths, were detected in Boguila, Recio said.

He added that MSF was targeting 21,000 people in the campaign and was giving free treatment to those with the disease.

MSF bought 40,000 doses of the meningitis vaccine to meet the needs of the local populations, he said.

Recio said MSF had also begun a major immunisation drive against measles in the province of Haut Mbomou, 1,231 km east of the capital, Bangui. He said children aged up to 15 years would be vaccinated during the campaign targeting 22,000 people.

State-owned Radio Centrafrique reported that the Ministry of Health completed on Tuesday a measles immunisation campaign for 8,400 children in Gadzi area in Mambere Kadei Province, 200 km southwest of Bangui.

The radio quoted the official in charge of the health sector in Mambere Kadei, Dr Come Kamalo, as saying that 87.5 percent of the population was vaccinated in the effort.