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STORY: UNICEF / MEASLES
TRT: 02:57
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: CREDIT UNICEF FOOTAGE ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: FRENCH / NATS
DATELINE: 4-8 NOVEMBER 2019, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO (DRC)
4 NOVEMBER 2019, KANANGA, DRC
1. Wide shot, exterior of vaccination clinic
2. Wide shot, mothers and their children wait to be helped
3. Med shot, mothers and their children wait to be helped
4. Med shot, mothers and their children wait to be helped
5. Close up, mother and her baby
6. Med shot, mother holds her child who is being vaccinated
7. Med shot, mother holds her child who is being vaccinated
8. Close up, health worker fills up a syringe
9. Close up, mother holds her child who is being vaccinated
8 NOVEMBER 2019, TSHIKAPA, DRC
10. SOUNDBITE (French) Steve Mandala, Chief, Tshikapa Health Zone:
“As you know, there are lots of refugees from Angola who come to Tshikapa. This transfer of population means that even when the situation is under control, suddenly, we will see fluctuation. Because of this transfer of population, there is a fluctuation regarding the measles cases.”
4 NOVEMBER 2019, KANANGA, DRC
11. Close up, mother holds her child who is being vaccinated
12. Close up, health worker fills up a syringe
13. Med shot, mother holds her child who is being vaccinated
14. Close up, mother calms and cradles her child
15. Close up, mother holds her child who is being vaccinated
16. Med shot, health worker fills out immunization card
17. Close up, health worker fills out immunization card
8 NOVEMBER 2019, TSHIKAPA, DRC
18. SOUNDBITE (French) H. Fiston Misombo, Nurse, Tshisele Health Area:
“We would spend two or three months without having any cases. But during the epidemic, we started to record two cases, one case a day and so on. That was during the epidemic. Before the epidemic, cases were rare. We show to the population the advantage of the vaccination. A vaccinated child is a protected child. Even if the epidemic appears suddenly, he will be always protected.”
19. Wide shot, exterior of vaccination clinic
20. Close up, health worker fills out immunization card
21. Close up, health worker fills up a syringe
22. Close up, health worker prepares antiseptic
23. Wide shot, mothers and their children wait to be helped
24. Close up, mother and her child wait to be helped
25. Close up, mother holds her child who is being vaccinated
26. Close up, mother holds her child who is being vaccinated
In 2018, over 140,000 people, mainly children, died from measles globally according to new World Health Organization (WHO) and United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates. UNICEF and partners are conducting measles vaccination campaigns in the hardest-hit areas as well as providing medical supplies for treatment.
The report comes as measles cases increase globally. There has already been a three-fold increase in the number of measles cases reported as of mid-November 2019 compared to the same period in 2018.
Stagnation in measles vaccination coverage coupled with drops in coverage amongst certain population groups and communities has led to these outbreaks.
Five countries – the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Madagascar, Somalia and Ukraine - accounted for 45 per cent of all measles cases in 2018.
SOUNDBITE (French) Steve Mandala, Chief, Tshikapa Health Zone:
“As you know, there are lots of refugees from Angola who come to Tshikapa. This transfer of population means that even when the situation is under control, suddenly, we will see fluctuation. Because of this transfer of population, there is a fluctuation regarding the measles cases.”
Countries experiencing measles outbreaks are facing a combination of problems in their vaccination programmes, including inadequately resourced public health services that fail to reach and fully vaccinate children, rapid population growth or urbanization that outpaces the capacity of existing health systems, insecurity and conflict.
In Somalia, measles is currently one of the leading causes of death amongst children. While the number of cases has substantially reduced this year compared to 2018, thanks to enhanced supplementary immunization campaigns by UNICEF and partners, new cases continue to be reported. As of November 2019, 3,616 suspected measles cases have been reported. Low vaccination rates, resulting from limited capacity within the health system, alongside insecurity and poor living conditions have created ideal conditions for the spread of measles and other vaccine preventable diseases. UNICEF and partners have just completed a vaccination campaign aimed to reach 1.7 million children against measles and polio in districts with high concentration of displaced people and nomadic communities.
In DRC, over 4,500 children under the age of five died from measles in 2019. A quarter of a million people have been infected this year alone, more than three times the number of measles cases reported in the country in 2018, making the situation in the country the world's largest and fastest-growing epidemic.
SOUNDBITE (French) H. Fiston Misombo, Nurse, Tshisele Health Area:
“We would spend two or three months without having any cases. But during the epidemic, we started to record two cases, one case a day and so on. That was during the epidemic. Before the epidemic, cases were rare. We show to the population the advantage of the vaccination. A vaccinated child is a protected child. Even if the epidemic appears suddenly, he will be always protected.”
Measles response efforts have been largely hampered by competing priorities including the Ebola response. Additional prevailing challenges include poor infrastructure; insecurity and attacks on health centers; a lack of access to routine healthcare; shortages of vaccines and in some instances, a lack of trust in health teams.
Measles is a highly contagious disease and unvaccinated young children are at greatest measles and suffering complications, including death.
So far UNICEF has distributed 1,317 medical measles kits - containing antibiotics, rehydration salts, Vitamin A and other medicines - o all affected health zones in DRC to treat children with measles and related complications.
