The campaign consists of vaccinating the Congolese population free of charge, from August 6 to 11, against measles and yellow fever. The vaccine is for children aged six months to nine years for measles. Children from nine months and adults up to the age of 60 will be vaccinated against yellow fever. The objective is to improve the protection of children against measles and rubella, to contribute to the strategy for the elimination of yellow fever epidemics in Africa advocated by the World Health Organization since 2018.
This operation benefits from government funding of more than 560,000,000 FCFA, and Gavi, more than one billion. Congo is the first country in Africa to have organized a coupled vaccination campaign. It does not concern pregnant women either in the department of Pointe-Noire where this campaign was effective in 2018.
About these pathologies, the Minister of Health and Population, Gilbert Mokoki, presented the epidemiological situation of measles in Congo: 6,259 cases recorded including 132 deaths, mainly children under five. With regard to yellow fever: 574 suspected cases have been notified in the country, of which three confirmed cases have been reported.
According to him, most of these deaths occurred in children admitted late to care centers after the failure of self-medication or recourse to traditional practices.
In addition, the Minister indicated that Congo had made significant progress in terms of vaccination coverage from 55.6% to 86% between 2005 and 2014. Thanks to this increase in vaccination coverage, the infant and child mortality rate has increased. dropped from 117 to 52 deaths per 1,000 live births.
The representative of Unicef in Congo, Chantal Umutoni, made a plea for mobilization so that every citizen can adhere to vaccination.
It should be noted that during the launch of this campaign, the observation was that citizens of all social categories expressed their interest in being vaccinated. Josephine Itoua, a trader, explained that she jumped at the chance to strengthen these antibodies against the disease.
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