MEASLES killed over 750 children under the age of five in Zimbabwe last year, an Amnesty International (AI) report states.
By Kuda Pembere
With more than half of the deaths being community deaths mainly from from Manicaland province, the Measles virus spread to other parts of the country killing manly unvaccinated children. The first case was reported in Mutasa District amongst the Apostolic sects.
In April, the Ministry of Health and Child Care declared a measles outbreak in Mutasa District in Manicaland province. The virus spread to other areas and killed more than 750 children under the age of five,” read the report.
To mitigate the outbreak, the Health Ministry alongside United Nations partners such as the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO) teamed up for a social and behaviour change communication change model to enlighten members of the apostolic sect on the importance of vaccinating their children.
“The government and its partners UNICEF and WHO responded to the outbreak by instituting the Social and Behaviour Change Communication model within Apostolic religious communities to promote understanding of and improve access to modern health services and treatments,” AI said.
Amnesty International added that “A measles epidemic in Congo’s Pointe-Noire department claimed the lives of 112 children; and in Zimbabwe more than 750 under-fives died when a measles outbreak in Mutasa district spread to other areas. In Cameroon, a cholera epidemic affected seven regions, resulting in 298 deaths.”
Through engaging the apostolic sect, they managed to vaccinate and revaccinate more than two million children under five years of age.
“The authorities also initiated emergency measles vaccination and re-vaccination programmes for more than 2 million children under the age of five,” added AI.
In February this year, the World Health Organisation said by end of September last year Zimbabwe had recorded nearly 7 701 measles cases and 747 deaths, making the outbreak one of the country’s worst in years.
In September 0222, a Measles Country situation reported noted that Manicaland Province ecorded 347 deaths, followed by Mashonaland West which had 141 deaths. Mashonaland East had 92 deaths, Midlands 64, Masvingo 44, Matebeleland South 11, Mash Central 2, Chtungwiza 1, Harare 0 and Mat North 0.