By Olukayode Michael, Maiduguri
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), popularly
known as Doctors Without Borders on Friday revealed that 58 people have been
killed by measles in Borno State since January.
It said this is part of the growing toll of death recorded worldwide.
MSF, in a statement, the ongoing measles outbreak is partly due to insufficient
routine vaccination and immunization against measles which is putting thousands
of children at risk of getting infected.
The statement quoted Dr. Theresa Chan, MSF’s medical team leader in Gwange
hospital, Maiduguri as saying: “We are all working in crowded wards,” and “the
enthusiasm exhibited by the staff is the reason why we’ve been able to cope so
far.”
The statement said: “In the West of Maiduguri, MSF is also caring for measles
patients in its Gwange hospital. In four months from January to April, MSF
teams have treated 2343 children with measles. And the number of cases in April
was four times higher than in January. There are so many patients that the 73-
isolation-beds are full.
“A three-year-old girl was brought to Gwange by her mother,” the statement
said, with her mother explains that: “She started sneezing and had a high
fever. The inside of her lips turned red and she was constantly vomiting. I was
so worried and I thought she was going to die.”
But after receiving treatment, for close to a month, she made good recovery,
and her mother, joyful and grateful took her home, according to the statement.
Her case was one of the success story but many were not so fortunate, according
to the statement: “Some children die from measles due to severe complications.
In both SSH and Gwange hospital, MSF has recorded 58 deaths since January. But
it’s only part of the global death toll.”
Caroline Masunda, MSF medical team leader in Maiduguri, said: “It is
unacceptable that there still is a high number of children passing away from
such a treatable disease. Though stretched to the limits, we could not turn
away the children.”
She lamented that this has “brought a lot of loss and a lot of sadness to the
community.”
She said: “To encourage uptake of services and limit the number of complicated
cases that increase the mortality rate, the population should have access to
free primary health care in Maiduguri.”
The MSF therefore called for better and swift coordination between all actors
including Nigerian authorities, UN agencies and non-governmental organisations
in availing and providing routine vaccination to children across northeastern
Nigeria in order to protect them against measles and prevent future outbreaks.
MSF has been working in Nigeria since 1996 and has had a permanent presence in
Borno state since 2014. MSF teams provide lifesaving medical care in
northeastern Nigeria, running projects in Gwoza, Maiduguri, Monguno, Ngala, and
Pulka, while MSF emergency teams respond to disease outbreaks and other urgent
humanitarian needs.