Illustration. (REUTERS / Goran Tomasevic)

1500 Congolese are Predicted to Die Due to Measles, What Did the Health Minister Say?

Congo, South Africa - Unfortunately, Congo Health Minister Oly Ilunga said on Monday (10/6) that, predicting measles epidemic in his country has reached 1.8 percent or about 1.500 died because of this plague.

He also stated that, large-scale vaccine programs will be updated to fight the measles plague, as they have seen an increase in the number of suspected cases of measles since the beginning of this year, with a total of 87 thousand cases reported in mid-May until today.

It is reported that on last April, 2.24 million children under five were vaccinated for four days. An immunization campaign that includes 1.4 million children will also be launched in the coming days as the health minister and also medical team believe that vaccination is the one and only way to prevent and to end this measles plague in Congo.

Congo is also struggling to prevent the deadly Ebola plague in the two eastern provinces of the country besides measles. A total of 1,384 lives have been lost due to Ebola since last August 2018 and concerned the local people especially children.

It is mentioned that, at least 95 percent of the population all over the country must get vaccinated to cut off and to prevent the transmission of measles in Congo.

Source: https://www.cnnindonesia.com/internasional/20190611230802-127-402534/wabah-campak-di-kongo-diperkirakan-telan-1500-jiwa