Médecins Sans Frontières or MSF teams in Yida refugee camp of Unity State, South Sudan says the crowded living conditions make the refugees more vulnerable to measles virus spreading through droplets from the mouth or nose of infected persons.
In a statement, CRN obtained, children under five years and pregnant women are reported most at risk due to their weaker immune system.
MSF’s Vaccination Coordinator in Yida Ahmed Mohama Mahat says ‘In a refugee setting, one single case of measles is considered an outbreak’ and that Nuba Mountains’ refugees are in very bad conditions without vaccination for a long time.
The statement indicates that MSF teams have admitted 93 patients with measles and launched a mass vaccination campaign in collaboration with the International Rescue Committee or IRC and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees or UNHCR.
MSF targets an estimated 35 thousand children for measles’ vaccination over a period of five days to cover 90 percent of the children in camps and nearby host communities between the ages of six months and 15 years.
Coordinator Mahat laments that the challenge is to be able to achieve the vaccination rapidly to control an epidemic or the risk of epidemic.’