DRC: Why measles remains a mass killer

July 8, 2024

MSF is responding to a new measles outbreak in DR Congo, where ensuring complete vaccination in remote equatorial forests is a formidable logistical challenge.Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières(MSF) teams in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are responding to a new measles outbreak in the...

Afghanistan: Measles surge necessitates strengthening of prevention measures

May 20, 2024

Ten-month-old Bilal lies in bed at Mazar-i-Sharif regional hospital, in Afghanistan’s Balkh province, where he is being treated for measles and pneumonia, watched over by his mother Zakia. When Bilal fell ill with a fever, Zakia took him to one privately-run...

Sudan: Fleeing conflict, hundreds of thousands face hardship and disease in overcrowded camps in White Nile State

July 28, 2023

26 July, 2023 - More than 140,000 people, mostly South Sudanese women and children fleeing from Khartoum, have newly arrived in White Nile state since conflict broke out in Sudan and are now facing huge unmet needs for food, shelter,...

CAR: MSF vaccinates thousands of children after arrival of refugees from Sudan

July 19, 2023

This vaccination campaign against measles and other diseases is part of the emergency response launched by the medical organization in the town of Birao, in northern Central African Republic, where refugees from Sudan have been relocated. A Sudanese girl is...

Measles: tackling a deadly endemic disease in Somalia

May 26, 2023

As Somalia faces a severe drought and ongoing conflict, children of all ages have become increasingly vulnerable to contracting – and dying from – measles. Although the disease is entirely preventable, measles outbreaks of varying severity have become widespread across...

Battling Measles Amid Ongoing Crises in South Sudan 

May 26, 2023

In South Sudan, a fierce battle is being fought against measles. This insidious disease has taken hold across the country and now threatens the lives of the youngest and most vulnerable. MSF clinical officer Douth Chuol Khor examines 5-month-old Makuach...

Vaccination campaign for Sudanese refugees in Koufroun, Chad

May 8, 2023

Since the resumption of the conflict in Sudan, around 30,000 people have fled to Chad according to the UNHCR. Médecins Sans Frontières is carrying out a vaccination campaign to protect children against measles in temporary camps set up at the...

Measles in DRC: the never-ending fight against one of the world’s most contagious disease?

February 23, 2023

Every two to three years, measles outbreaks affect tens or even hundreds of thousands of children in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Last year was no exception, with more than 148,600 cases and 1,800 deaths reported[1]. How can this recurring...

“We rushed her to the red zone”: Saving a young life in Afghanistan

May 19, 2022

Her name was Tahera*. She had been brought to the MSF-supported Herat Regional Hospital the day before by her parents; with a red, blotchy rash spreading down her little body. After being assessed by our medical team she was admitted...

Afghanistan: Measles poses deadly risk for malnourished children in Afghanistan

March 9, 2022

Zainab didn’t sleep well last night. The lights and the incessant beeping of the machines in the intensive care unit would keep anyone awake. But mainly she couldn’t sleep because she was worried about her one-year-old son, Takberullah. He also...

Mali: Prevention is better than cure – vaccinating against measles in Timbuktu

November 3, 2020

“It’s between 11am and midday at the moment. Anyone who knows shadows knows that,” says Djeynabou Abdoulaye, smiling. She has come to the village school in Tassakane to get her child vaccinated against measles. “We’re lucky it’s not raining today.” Despite...

“These children shouldn’t be sick” – tackling measles in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh

February 19, 2020

In a pink room decorated with white flowers at Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières’ (MSF) Kutupalong field hospital in the Cox's Bazar district of southeastern Bangladesh, a woman lies curled around her sleeping child. Next to her, a young mother...