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Room DRC: Response to Measles Epidemic Inadequate MSF Calls for
Increased Action from International Health Actors New
York/Brussels/Katanga, Democratic Republic of Congo, March 28,
2011 — The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
and international health agencies must immediately increase
their response to a measles epidemic rapidly spreading through
the country, the international medical humanitarian organization
Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said
today. Over the past few months, MSF has undertaken a complete
emergency measles response (treatment, vaccination, and
epidemiological surveillance) in Katanga, Kasaï Occidental, and
South-Kivu provinces. More than 1.5 million children have been
vaccinated and 21,000 measles cases detected over the past six
months. However, new measles outbreaks have flared in Bandundu,
Kasaï Oriental, and Maniema provinces. The epidemic is rapidly
moving north and is showing no si