GENEVA, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) – As the number of deaths from the measles epidemic in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has surpassed the 6,000 threshold, the World Health Organization (WHO) called on Tuesday more fundraising to stop this epidemic.
Under the leadership of the Congolese Ministry of Health, WHO, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi) and other agencies and partners vaccinated more than 18 million children under the age of 5 across the country in 2019. However, in some areas, systematic vaccination coverage is still low, while 25% of recorded measles cases concern children over five, who are the most vulnerable.
“We are doing everything we can to contain this epidemic. However, to be truly successful, we must ensure that no child is put at unnecessary risk of dying from an easily vaccine-preventable disease. We urge our donor partners to step up their efforts emergency assistance, “said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.
“We welcome the government’s commitment to efforts to end the epidemic and we are also grateful for the generosity of our donors. But we still have to do more,” said Dr. Amédée Prosper Djiguimdé, in charge of the WHO office in the DRC. “Thousands of Congolese families need our support to ease the burden of this protracted epidemic. We cannot do it without sufficient finances.”
The humanitarian branch of the European Commission (ECHO), Gavi, Doctors of the World, Doctors Without Borders, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), WHO and other partners continue to support the government of the DRC for the control of this long-lasting epidemic.
In December 2019, WHO trained more than 60 health professionals from the Ministry of Health to strengthen the major components of the response on the ground, including community engagement, health education and epidemiological surveillance. These health professionals are being deployed this week as part of the intervention.
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