6 January 2014 - UNICEF began measles and polio vaccinations with vitamin A supplements, rapid nutrition screening and deworming for 3,250 children under the age of 15 at an internally displaced persons camp (IDP) today in Bentiu, Unity State.

Some 8,000 IDPs have been sheltering at the camp on the UNMISS base since fighting broke out between pro and anti-government forces in the town on 19 December.

When such a large group of people come together, preventive measures should be taken – first of all measles vaccines and then polio – as a standard emergency response, according to UNICEF Dr. Monday Kato.

“For us here in Bentiu, … on the third day we came across three cases of measles, which is highly contagious and can spread very fast,” he said.

Fortunately, the Ministry of Health had received new supplies of vaccines on 15 December, Dr. Kato said. “We didn’t, however, have enough syringes, needles, droppers, vitamin A capsules and deworming tablets. We managed to get them from UNICEF in Juba on an UNMISS flight.”

The biggest challenge, he said, was to find qualified volunteers -- at least 10 vaccinators who could do injections – for the three-day activity. “Luckily we had at the IDP camp five vaccinators and five qualified nurses and all of them are involved in the campaign.”

The vaccination team came to 37 people plus elders or chiefs to mobilize people for injections. “I had prepared the training materials in English but eventually had to deliver it in simple Arabic,” Dr. Kato said.

He said the rapid nutrition screening was important for UNICEF, as the data would be analyzed upon completion of the campaign and used for malnutrition management.

Recounting his experiences during the initial days of the conflict, Dr. Kato said the UNICEF compound was close to UNMISS as well as fighting around the Sudan People’s Liberation Army headquarters in Rubkona.

“When the shooting started on 19 December, I was outside in the market,” he said. “While I was trying to get back to the compound … I was stopped by two people in civilian clothes, one who was armed, and asked to give them my mobile phone.”

Phoneless, the doctor then safely reached his compound, but the situation deteriorated in the evening and UNICEF staff were evacuated to the UNMISS base.

The beginning of the violence was marked by outside shooting into the compound and he was unable to leave, Dr. Kato said. Two days after he arrived, the doctor set up a simple clinic with UNMISS staff.

“Within 5 minutes (after the clinic opened), I had a queue of about 50 people and all of them were serious cases.”

Some medical staff among the IDPs joined him. Initially they worked in the dispensary, but later showed Dr. Kato their documents and also saw cases. “One of the clinical officers told me he had lost everything, but had saved his diploma.”

The doctor said the most difficult case he had was a lady who suffered obstructed labour for two days. “I had no instruments, no space for surgery. We couldn’t transport her to the hospital in Bentiu because of the security -- the fighting was still going on.”

“We gave her some glucose and she managed to push,” he said. “The baby survived … though the rupture of the amniotic membrane had taken place two days before.”

On the fifth day a six-year-old boy arrived at the clinic. “My mother died three days back,” the boy told Dr. Kato. “I’m having a cough, please treat me.”

Eventually, surgical cases were registered and the International Committee of the Red Cross has been performing surgeries every few days. The first five operations took place on 5January at an operation theater improvised in the UNMISS clinic.

The biggest concern now is nutrition, said Dr. Kato. “The children miss proteins, vitamins and minerals. I’m waiting for the results of the rapid assessment and then we’ll push for management of malnutrition cases.”