Measles has killed three times as many people as Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in what the World Health Organisation (WHO) described as “the world’s worst measles epidemic”.
More than 6,000 people have died following the measles outbreak, with more than 310,000 cases reported in the country since the beginning of 2019. The WHO warned the outbreak would continue if more funding was not made available.
And despite $27.6m (£21m) having been mobilised in order to tackle the problem, the organisation said a further $40m was needed for a six-month vaccination programme that would protect children between the ages of six and 16.
“We recognise the government’s engagement in the efforts to end the outbreak and we are grateful for the generosity of our donors. But we still need to do more,” said Dr Amedee Prosper Djiguimde, the officer in charge of the WHO office in the DRC.
“Thousands of Congolese families need our help to lift the burden of this prolonged epidemic from their backs. We cannot achieve this without adequate finances.”
As well as needing additional funding to finance a vaccination programme in the county, health workers in DR Congo also face problems with infrastructure in-country that hampers the uptake of vaccinations – which have been available for several decades – while vaccination use is also low in areas of the country where armed groups are active.
“We are doing our utmost to bring this epidemic under control,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO regional director for Africa. “Yet to be truly successful we must ensure that no child faces the unnecessary risk of death from a disease that is easily preventable by a vaccine.
“We urge our donor partners to urgently step up their assistance.”
It comes as health resources in the country are also under strain from the Ebola outbreak that has become the second-worst in history, resulting in the deaths of more than 2,231 people since August 2018.
Additional reporting by AP
