00:07In Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the push to vaccinate children against measles continues.
00:13Last year, there were more than 82,000 cases of the highly infectious viral infection
00:18that spreads easily through coughing and sneezing.
00:21Before its containment, local health authorities had reported over 1,170 deaths in almost all of the provinces.
00:29This year, they are taking no chances. They hope to vaccinate at least 260,000 children.
00:35Many parents seem to be responding positively to this initiative.
00:40Yes, I've seen some children with measles in my street, which is why I brought my son.
00:45I advise parents to make a habit of vaccinating their children on time to protect us
00:49and prevent the measles from spreading too far.
00:52The measles vaccination campaign was scheduled to run from the 16th of March to the 21st,
00:58but is now being extended to reach more children.
01:00The current campaign covers the city of Goma in North Kivu province,
01:04as well as the Karisimbi and Nyiragongo health zones, where the risk of infection remains high.
01:11We are vaccinating children against measles because we have experienced a major measles epidemic
01:16that killed many children.
01:18That is why we launched this vaccination campaign, and I'm also a vaccinator during this campaign.
01:23In Kieshero General Referral Hospital, hundreds of children are still being treated in isolation,
01:28and most have never gotten the jab, despite the vaccines being accessible.
01:35The cause is population movement.
01:37If a woman is not settled, she is moving from one place to another.
01:40There is a high likelihood she will not be able to access the vaccine.
01:44That may be the cause, but we always see zero-dose cases in the outpatient department.
01:48And even here in the inpatient ward, among the 700 children we are treating,
01:53there are few who have never received a single dose of vaccine since they were born.
01:59Officials say the combination of insecurity and population displacement
02:03is at the root of recurrent outbreaks.
02:05For now, they hope to prevent fatalities by treatment
02:08and COVID spread by increasing the vaccination numbers.
02:12But with insecurities still prevalent across the region,
02:15there are some who fear that measles will remain a never-ending fight.
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