A major outbreak of measles has killed almost 320 people and infected more than 20,000 in the southeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the United Nations has announced.
“The toll is heavy and worrying: since January 1, 2015, more than 20,000 cases of measles have been registered in Katanga province alone” and “almost 320 people have died”, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement this week.
“Dozens of others may have succumbed to the illness but they don’t figure on official records,” the statement added.
The outbreak in mineral-rich Katanga is the worst since 2011, according to Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF – Doctors without Borders), which is on the front line of a vaccination campaign in remote areas. In 2011, MSF staff immunised about 1.5 million children.
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