Measles immunisation drive begins in the north

A five-day measles immunisation campaign began on Monday in the northern province of Ouham in the Central African Republic, targeting an estimated 18,000 children aged six months to 15 years, an official of the Spanish health charity, Medicos Sin Fronteras (MSF), told IRIN. "We are targeting all the villages 30 km around [the town of] Bossangoa," Matthieu Amiraux, the MSF representative in the country, said. At least 52 children in Ouham Province are reported to have died of measles since October. Ministry of Health workers and MSF staff are carrying out the immunisation in and around Bossangoa, 305 km north of the capital, Bangui. MSF provided the vaccines. Amiraux said that an MSF team of five nurses left Bangui on Friday for Bossangoa, where it would inform the people about the vaccinations. State-owned Radio Centrafrique reported that chief doctor of Bossangoa hospital, Dr Marcel Maleko, met on Friday with local leaders to urge them to ensure that the people brought their children to be immunised. Since the first measles alert was reported in October in the village of Nere, 30 km south of Bossangoa, MSF and health ministry officials have immunised children in Nere, "but the epidemic had already gone out of control", Amiraux said. He said that 214 cases were detected and treated free of charge in Nere last week. During the same period, another 95 cases were detected in Bossangoa and surrounding villages. The measles epidemic in Ouham broke out days after MSF reported that the disease outbreak in the neighbouring Ouham Pende Province had been contained. MSF also vaccinated children in Paoua, 506 km northwest of Bangui, in April and in Bozoum, 384 km northwest of Bangui, in October. Ouham and Ouham Pende provinces were among the worst affected by a six-month rebellion that ended on 15 March when former army chief of staff Francois Bozize ousted President Ange-Felix Patasse. The October 2002 to March 2003 war between rebels loyal to Bozize and government troops led to the destruction of health facilities in the north, and prevented civilians from accessing health care until May 2003. Vaccination of children resumed in October. The first phase of a nationwide anti-polio immunisation drive ended on 5 November. The second phase is scheduled for 3-5 December. Previously, the last polio immunisation drive in the north was carried out in December 2001. "This measles epidemic is most likely due to the year they [the population] spent in precarious conditions [hiding in the bush] with children being not vaccinated," Amiraux said.