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STORY: DRC / MEASLES
TRT: 02:49
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: KISWAHILI / NATS
DATELINE: 12 - 14 DECEMBER 2019, GOMA, NORTH KIVU, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO (DRC)
1. Various shots, babies being vaccinated for measles at Heal Africa Hospital vaccination site
CCLK Health Centre
2. SOUNDBITE (French) Corneille Bihura, Health Officer, CCLK Health Centre:
“Today we are giving a measles vaccine because a lot of children here have been sick with the disease.”
3. Close up, baby
4. SOUNDBITE (French) Corneille Bihura, Health Officer, CCLK Health Centre:
“Those who come in sick are treated for free. We get about three to five children who have contacted measles every day. We have the medicines to treatment them.”
5. Close up, baby
6. Wide shot, Justine Safari arrives with her baby
7. Various shots, Justine Safari queuing with her baby
8. Med shot, other children in queue
9. Med shot, Justine Safari walking into clinic
10. Various shots, Justine Safari’s baby being vaccinated
11. SOUNDBITE (French) Justine Safari, Mother of Six:
“I heard that Measles is killing children and that is why I brought my six children to be vaccinated.”
12. Various shots, children waiting for vaccination, entering CCLK Health Centre
13. Various shots, children being vaccinated, waiting in line for vaccinations
14. Various shots, Gadafi Mundeke having his son vaccinated
15. SOUNDBITE (French) Gadafi Mundeke, Father:
“No one in this community opposes this vaccine. None. This vaccination is very important us.”
16. Various shots, Kavira Lize having her baby vaccinated at CCLK Health Centre
17. SOUNDBITE (French) Kavira Lize, Mother:
“Measles is becoming a big problem for children and that is why I have brought my child so that she does not fall sick.”
18. Various shots, children
With the death toll from the world’s worst measles epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) surpassing 6,000, the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling for more funding to stop the outbreak.
Under the leadership of the DRC Ministry of Health, WHO, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and other partner aid agencies vaccinated more than 18 million children under five across the country in 2019.
SOUNDBITE (French) Corneille Bihura, Health Officer, CCLK Health Centre:
“Today we are giving a measles vaccine because a lot of children here have been sick with the disease. Those who come in sick are treated for free. We get about three to five children who have contacted measles every day. We have the medicines to treatment them.”
However, in some areas, routine vaccination coverage remains low and 25 percent of the reported measles cases are in children over the age of five, who are the most vulnerable.
SOUNDBITE (French) Justine Safari, Mother of Six:
“I heard that Measles is killing children and that is why I brought my six children to be vaccinated.”
Since the start of 2019, around 310,000 suspected measles cases have been reported. The epidemic has been aggravated by low vaccination coverage among vulnerable communities, malnutrition, weak public health systems, outbreaks of other epidemic-prone diseases, difficult access by vulnerable populations to health care and insecurity that has hampered response in some areas.
SOUNDBITE (French) Gadafi Mundeke, Father:
“No one in this community opposes this vaccine. None. This vaccination is very important us.”
In December 2019, WHO trained 60 health professionals from the Ministry of Health to conduct a range of services, including community engagement, health education and surveillance. These health professionals are being deployed this week as part of the response.
SOUNDBITE (French) Kavira Lize, Mother:
“Measles is becoming a big problem for children and that is why I have brought my child so that she does not fall sick.”
Lack of funding remains a huge impediment to successfully curbing the outbreak. So far, 27.6 million US dollars have been mobilized. However, a further US$ 40 million are required for a six-month plan to extend the vaccination to children between six and 14 years and to reinforce elements of the outbreak response beyond vaccination, including improving treatment, health education, community engagement, health system strengthening, epidemiological surveillance and response coordination.
The European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Médecins du Monde, Médecins Sans Frontières, United Nations Children’s Fund, WHO and other partners have been supporting the Government to bring the long-running epidemic under control.
