Cap Anamur implements vaccination program against measles
Since the end of September, we have recorded an increasing number of measles infections at our Cap Anamur hospital in Sudan. We responded to this development with an immediate vaccination campaign. We have countered the current measles outbreak by isolating those who have contracted the disease.
Time and again, there are increased outbreaks of highly contagious infectious diseases such as measles, tuberculosis or hepatitis in our African project countries.
Regular vaccination campaigns prevent highly contagious viral diseases
To counteract these diseases, we conduct regular vaccination programs. These measures are particularly important in our project countries, as the prevailing living conditions mean that a measles infection can often be fatal. Especially in unvaccinated infants, who are malnourished, it can lead to very severe or even fatal courses.
Measles outbreaks are increasing significantly over the past two years.
We have been able to significantly limit the number of measles infections in recent years through regular vaccination campaigns. However, for the past two years, we have seen that there have been vaccination gaps due to restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
At our hospital and health care posts in the Nuba Mountains, we are able to run vaccination programs independent of government funding. In many health facilities in Sudan, vaccination campaigns were suspended in the wake of the Corona pandemic. We did not have this development in our hospital. However, we found that in 2021 fewer patients, especially young children, visited our health facilities to be vaccinated.
Vaccination program for the Nuba Mountains
In order to close these vaccination gaps again, we immediately carried out vaccinations for children after the current measles outbreak in mid-October. Not only in our hospital, but also in 12 surrounding villages, we have carried out this measure. Because we also want to reach the children who cannot come to our hospital. In total, we vaccinated 7,000 boys and girls between the ages of 6 months and 5 years.
The children who were admitted to our hospital due to measles infection survived it well. Unfortunately, there has been an increase in deaths in remote villages where health care is more difficult to obtain. Therefore, within the current vaccination campaign, we have focused on visiting especially the remote villages to strengthen immunization against the highly contagious disease there.