In early 2019 a measles outbreak began in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In January 2020 it was reported by the World Health Organisation (WHO) that over 6000 people had DIED in this outbreak.
Of the 6000 that have died so far, 73% were children under 5 years (Doctors Without Borders 12/2019). That’s 4380 children who have died of a preventable disease. They had names, faces, people that loved them and we have no right to be unaware of their deaths.
This is the biggest measles outbreak in history, DRC is also enduring its biggest Ebola outbreak right now with 2264 people dead (WHO 3/2020)
Médecins Sans Frontières continues to work for these people. It is an extremely difficult context where poor infrastructure, attacks on health centres and a lack of access to routine healthcare have hindered efforts to stop the spread of disease.
