Emergency immunisation campaign against measles

Over 5,500 children have been vaccinated against measles in Blama, Kenema District, some 240km east of Freetown, Yves Horent, programme coordinator for the emergency medical relief agency, MERLIN, told IRIN today (Thursday). "The death rate is low, we don't yet know the exact figures," Horent said. In cooperation with the Health Ministry and UNICEF, there are three medical teams currently working in Kenema District, and an immunisation campaign has started in Kenema town. "There is an outbreak," Horent said, "but it is under control." According to figures published last week by MERLIN, over 100 children were in a measles isolation unit in Kenema town and around 50 in Blama. Meanwhile 15 people, including children, have died in a cholera outbreak in Bombali District, northern Sierra Leone, according to AFP. It attributed the outbreak in Moneykoi village to contamination in wells and a nearby stream and said the victims were displaced people who had fled fighting in Makeni, some 240 km northeast of the capital.