MSF Fight Measles Epidemic In Malawi

FIGHTING MEASLES IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD

MSF are fighting a measles epidemic in Malawi. Click here to see how.

MEASLES

Every minute a child dies of measles. Even though a safe and effective vaccine exists, outbreaks occur in many parts of the world because routine immunisation programs are not in place or efficient. In many places Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams are confronted with outbreaks and have to organise emergency immunisation campaigns, which represent a complex logistical challenge.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), out of the 30 million children affected by measles every year, about half a million die. Most of those deaths occur in Africa and Asia. This contrasts sharply with the Western world where measles cases have become extremely rare thanks to universal routine immunisation. This leads many people to forget that measles is a major killer.

Measles is highly contagious. Symptoms like runny nose, cough, eye infection, and rash appear about 10 to 14 days after exposure to the virus. There are different levels of severity, and deaths following measles infection are usually due to measles-related complications like diarrhoea, dehydration, and respiratory infections (pneumonia, croup). Those deaths can occur weeks after the acute disease and are not always attributed to measles. Mortality can reach 5 percent to 20 percent of measles cases. Initial health condition, access to health care, and proper treatment provision are factors influencing mortality.

2011 International Symposium on Reducing Child Mortality: Thinking outside the hospital for effective medical care

15/07/2011

In the lead-up to the 7th World Congress of the World Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases held in Melbourne, Australia, Médecins Sans Frontières and Epicentre are hosting a one-day satellite symposium to re-think...

Category: Upcoming Events (Events), Lectures & Seminars

Médecins Sans Frontières welcomes initiative by UNICEF to make vaccine prices public

31/05/2011

Geneva, 27 May 2011— In a bid to increase transparency and stimulate competition to bring down the prices of vaccines needed in the developing world, UNICEF has decided to publish the prices it pays to vaccine manufacturers.

Category: Press releases

Zambia: Measles vaccination campaign underway to immunise 600,000 children

24/05/2011

Mansa, Zambia – Médecins Sans Frontières teams are currently working alongside the Zambian health authorities to carry out a measles vaccination campaign with a target of almost 600,000 children. Médecins Sans Frontières launched...

Category: Field news

Treating measles in a remote province of the Democratic Republic of Congo

17/05/2011

In March, the measles epidemic that has raged in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for more than six months reached the remote province of Maniema. Despite the logistical challenges, Médecins Sans Frontières teams are...

Category: Field news

Medical and humanitarian emergency continues as violence persists in Ivory Coast

27/04/2011

21 April 2011: The medical and humanitarian emergency in Ivory Coast persists as violence rages in several neighbourhoods in Abidjan, and security in the west of the country remains critically unstable, with populations hiding in...

Category: Field news

DR Congo: “Measles epidemic spiralling out of control” according to Médecins Sans Frontières

28/03/2011

Over the past six months a measles epidemic has been sweeping through the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Médecins Sans Frontières is raising the alarm and calling for concerted action to halt the spread of the disease.

Category: Press releases

Visit Doctors Without Borders and fight Malaria - 

http://www.msf.org.au/rciyw/

Source: www.msf.org.au

MSF Press Release -31 March 2011

IVORY COAST: CIVILIANS MUST NOT BE TARGETED AND MUST HAVE ACCESS TO MEDICAL CARE
Ivory Coast / 01.04.11
PARIS/BRUSSELS, MARCH 31, 2011 – New outbreaks of fighting in Ivory Coast are severely restricting already-limited civilian access to medical care, the international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières said today.

An advancing front line has forced thousands of residents to flee in the western region of Ivory Coast over recent days. And in the city of Abidjan, it is now extremely difficult, if not impossible, to move around within certain neighborhoods, especially with armed men looting and firing in the streets.  It has become impossible to obtain access to medical care under these conditions.

"Access to care is critical," said Dr. Mego Terzian, Médecins Sans Frontières emergency coordinator. "Civilians must not be targeted and patients must be able to obtain medical care."

Médecins Sans Frontières has been working with health authorities in Abidjan since early March, treating 450 people, among them 314 victims of violence. The teams are working at the Abobo Sud Hospital, the only health facility still functioning in the city's northern neighborhoods. On March 31, 15 patients with gunshot wounds were taken to the hospital, although ambulances stopped transporting people some time ago.

While masses of people fled Abidjan last weekend, many remain in the city, taking refuge with host families or hiding in their homes. People come to the few medical facilities still operating only as a last resort. Most health care workers have left; many of those who remain do not come to work because of the insecurity. In addition, medicines and medical supplies are lacking.

Over the last three days Médecins Sans Frontières teams have treated more than 230 wounded patients in the towns of Bangolo and Duékoué, in western Ivory Coast.

"The population is yet again suffering the consequences of fighting," said Renzo Fricke, Médecins Sans Frontières emergency coordinator. "Our teams transfer patients who need emergency surgery—for example, three women with gunshot wounds recently—but there are many other patients facing problems, ranging from severe malaria to complicated labor and deliveries. They require urgent treatment too, but the difficulty of moving from one place to another is threatening patients' lives.”

In Duékoué, a town in the west severely affected by fighting, a Médecins Sans Frontières team is treating patients and stabilizing people requiring surgery for transfer to Bangolo, 30 kilometers away, where another Médecins Sans Frontières team is working in the town’s only functioning hospital.

The Catholic mission in Duékoué is housing a camp for displaced persons, where the numbers have doubled in just a few days. Confrontations in the region have also led thousands of people to converge on the western town of Guiglo, where health needs have increased. A Médecins Sans Frontières team there treats patients to the extent it can, but insecurity makes it very difficult to evacuate wounded people to Duékoué and Bangolo.

When wounded patients streamed into hospitals in Yamoussoukro and Bouaké, in the center of Ivory Coast, a Médecins Sans Frontières team contributed medical supplies. "This illustrates a problem resulting from a general paralysis of economic life," said Fricke. "Health care facilities lack medicines and supplies."

Médecins Sans Frontières, an impartial medical humanitarian organisation, observes strict neutrality in its operations. Its activities in Ivory Coast are funded exclusively by private donors, ensuring complete independence.

Related News:
 Ivory Coast: “The Fighting Is Increasing Everywhere” - 01-04-11 15:11
 Ivory Coast: Emergency Trauma Surgery