320 killed as Congo ravaged by measles
Print Edition
AN outbreak of measles in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed almost 320 people and infected more than 20,000, the United Nations has said.
“The toll is heavy and worrying: since January 1, 2015, more than 20,000 cases of measles have been registered in Katanga Province alone” and “almost 320 people have died,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement this week.
“Dozens of others may have succumbed to the illness but they don’t figure on official records,” it said.
The outbreak in mineral-rich Katanga is the worst since 2011, according to Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF — Doctors without Borders), which is on the front line of a vaccination campaign. In 2011, MSF staff immunized 1.5 million children.
In 2013, 9,400 cases of measles were registered in Katanga, compared with more than 12,000 the following year.
OCHA warned that the situation this year “is only getting worse” and that people in some of the affected areas also face malnutrition and cholera.
“In populations with high levels of malnutrition and a lack of adequate health care, up to 10 percent of measles cases result in death,” the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) said on its website.
Aid agencies said that about a third of the affected areas in Katanga are covered by a vaccination program.
The United Nations and medical charities have estimated that more than US$2.4 million are needed to complete vaccinations and provide other essential care, but to contain the disease of “an epidemic nature,” other serious obstacles must be confronted.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
