Libera begins measles campaign in villages hosting Ivorian refugees
01 Feb 2011 18:17
This 2003 file photo shows Liberian children queuing for their measles vaccinations in the capital Monrovia. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko
MONROVIA (AlertNet) - Liberian health workers will vaccinate thousands of children against measles this week to stop an outbreak of the disease in an area hosting 32,000 Ivorian refugees fleeing political violence, the U.N. Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.
The campaign in Liberia's Nimba county is targeting children aged between six months and 15 years from refugee and host communities after five Liberian children died of measles and over 100 suspected cases were reported by the end of January.
Measles is a highly contagious viral disease that hits children hardest and aid agencies are concerned that it could spread quickly among the impoverished host communities and the refugees living with them.
"In a context where there are large numbers of people living in congested spaces, and there’s a severe shortage of food, safe water, sanitation and health care, it is critical that we act quickly to stop this outbreak," the head of UNICEF in Liberia, Isabel Crowley said in a statement.
The campaign, supported by UNICEF and the World Health Organisation (WHO), also includes nutrition screening, counselling and referrals in communities where there is a high influx of refugees.
Measles in malnourished children can cause serious complications including blindness, severe diarrhoea and pneumonia.
Up to 32,000 Ivorians have fled across the border to Liberia since a Nov. 28 election ended in deadlock between incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo and rival Alassane Ouattara over who won the vote.
The vast majority of refugees are in Nimba County, which is one of the poorest regions in Liberia, a country recovering from civil war and among the world’s poorest.
In some communities, refugees far outnumber locals, and local resources have been stretched to the limit creating sanitation, hygiene and health problems.
“The refugees are many ... it is embarrassing for me but what can I do, we don’t have enough toilets and no water that can satisfy all of us,” Zorkapea Kartoe, the chief of Gborplay, a Liberian town bordering Ivory Coast, told AlertNet.
UNICEF and the Red Cross have been building latrines and repairing wells and water pumps to try to improve conditions.
“We want these water points and sanitation facilities to be permanent and benefit the communities as a whole and not the refugees alone,” Rikke Ishoy, the deputy head of delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), told AlertNet in Monrovia.
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