DRC: MSF Emergency Team Responds to Measles Outbreak in Equateur Province

A new measles outbreak in the Ingende health zone, Equateur province, has prompted Doctors Without Borders (MSF) to launch an MSF emergency response to treat and vaccinate children.

This is not the first measles epidemic in Ingende. After a measles surge last year, Congolese health authorities conducted a vaccination campaign in September 2023 as part of a “Supplementary Immunization Activities” (SIA) initiative. Unfortunately, due to difficulties reaching certain areas, the campaign only covered 80% of children, insufficient to halt the spread of this highly contagious virus. A person with measles can infect up to 90% of unvaccinated individuals nearby.

Given the shortcomings of the 2023 campaign, measles cases surged again in 2024. MSF intervened to support the Ministry of Health by ensuring optimal vaccination coverage and supporting patient care in two hospitals and four health centres.

"Reaching remote areas in the equatorial forest is a logistical challenge," says Jean-Jacques Stéphane Nfon Dibie, coordinator of MSF’s “Congo Emergency Pool”, one of the mobile MSF emergency teams from MSF in DRC.

"The Ingende zone has 18 health areas, more than half of which are hard to reach. Local health authorities lack the logistical resources to cover all areas. Vaccines must be kept refrigerated, so transporting them on foot is often not possible. We've deployed motorbikes and motorised pirogues to ensure every health area is reached. This is essential for the success of vaccination campaigns.”

In addition to logistical support, MSF focused on involving all communities in the response, especially indigenous peoples in remote areas who were previously under-involved.

"In some communities, this led to frustration and mistrust of health campaigns," explains Dr. Thomas Holebanga, leader of the MSF intervention in Ingende. "No one should be left out when it comes to measles, as this risks the virus continuing to spread. Ensuring every community is aware of the disease and involved in its treatment and vaccination was our priority, and it paid off."

Organised in two phases between April 24 and May 13, MSF's vaccination campaign reached 62,645 children aged six months to nine years in the 18 health areas of Ingende, achieving nearly 100% coverage. In addition to the measles vaccine, 11,740 children received vaccinations for diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, hepatitis B, Haemophilus influenzae type b, and pneumococcus with pentavalent and PCV13 vaccines.

MSF emergency teams also treated 649 children with measles and over 1,000 children with malaria or severe acute malnutrition. The MSF emergency team rehabilitated the borehole at the Ingende HGR, which had been nonfunctional for over six months.

Measles epidemics in the DRC have persisted for years with high fatality rates due to inadequate routine vaccination and supplementary immunization activities. In 2023, over 300,000 measles cases were recorded, resulting in nearly 6,000 deaths.

Measles vaccination campaign carried out by MSF in the Ingende health zone, Equateur province. During this emergency campaign, 62,645 children aged between 6 months and 9 years were vaccinated against measles in the 18 health areas in the zone. In addition to these measles vaccines, MSF teams also administered multi-antigen vaccines (Pentavalent and PVC13) and searched for cases of malnutrition in order to refer them to a care facility. | Date taken: 24/04/2024 | Photographer: Augustin Mudiayi

Measles vaccination campaign carried out by MSF in the Ingende health zone, Equateur province. During this emergency campaign, 62,645 children aged between 6 months and 9 years were vaccinated against measles in the 18 health areas in the zone. In addition to these measles vaccines, MSF teams also administered multi-antigen vaccines (Pentavalent and PVC13) and screened children for malnutrition. | Date taken: 24/04/2024 | Photographer: Augustin MudiayiIn addition the vaccination response, MSF teams have been deployed in the Ingende health zone to treat three diseases. 649 cases of measles, 607 cases of malaria and 422 cases of severe acute malnutrition have been treated in the Makako, Wangata, Bempumba, Boteka and Ingende health areas. | Date taken: 26/04/2024 | Photographer: Augustin Mudiayi

"The security and humanitarian challenges in the DRC, particularly in the east, must not overshadow the critical need to combat measles," says Jean-Jacques Stéphane Nfon Dibie. "Measles remains a mass killer and the emergency response to this disease represents the majority of MSF's emergency interventions in the country. It's vital to mobilize all efforts to strengthen the response, from routine vaccination to SIA campaigns. It's a difficult but crucial battle to save thousands of children."

In 2023, MSF responded to several measles outbreaks in the DRC, vaccinating over 1.6 million children and treating 46,348 patients. 

Nkosi Mahlangu

Communications Specialist, Doctors Without Borders (MSF Southern Africa)

• nkosi.mahlangu@joburg.msf.org
• +27(0) 11 403 4440
• +27(0) 82 924 8454

• www.msf.org.za
• MSFSouthernAfrica
• @MSF_southafrica

About Doctors Without Borders (MSF)

Doctors Without Borders (MSF) is a global network of principled medical and other professionals who specialise in medical humanitarian work, driven by our common humanity and guided by medical ethics. We strive to bring emergency medical care to people caught in conflicts, crises, and disasters in more than 70 countries worldwide.

In South Africa, the organisation is recognised as one of the pioneers of providing Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) in the public sector and started the first HIV programmes in South Africa in 1999. Until today, the focus of MSF’s interventions in the country has primarily been on developing new testing and treatment strategies for HIV/AIDS and TB in Eshowe (Kwa-Zulu Natal) and Khayelitsha (Western Cape).

In Tshwane, we run a migration project, and we offer medical and psychosocial care to migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, who struggle to access public health services under South Africa’s increasingly restrictive.

Previously we offered free, high-quality, confidential medical care to survivors of SGBV in Rustenburg.

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