23 January 2014 - Responding to an outbreak of measles in internally displaced people’s (IDP) camps in South Sudan, health partners are conducting a second campaign against the disease, a UNICEF official said today in Juba.

“Right now we have a need to move urgently and intervene because we have 25 deaths that have been confirmed, caused by measles in other camps in the country, particularly in Bor (Jonglei State),” said Joy Luba Lomole, a UNICEF immunization officer.

She said health partners, including the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Health, had a target of 200,000 children (across the country) below 15 years to be vaccinated and that they had so far vaccinated 113,000 children.

Some 4,500 children had been immunized at the UNMISS Tomping base during the first campaign in December, and the new campaign was targeting another 6,900 children there.

“At the Tomping site we have had six laboratory confirmed cases,” said Dr. Lomole. “That itself is already an outbreak.”

To effectively implement the campaign, UNICEF was working with the Ministry of Health and MEDAIR International, which was providing all necessary supplies, she said.

Besides measles, UNICEF was also supporting vaccination of children below one year of age to protect them against six diseases.

“We are really worried about the current situation in the camp and the possibility of outbreaks,” said Dr. Lomole. “There is very little space, people are overcrowded, sanitation is extremely poor.”

Although many partners were trying to improve the situation, Dr. Lomole said the current overcrowding compounded with poor nutrition and movement of people in and out of the camp put children at high risk.

UNICEF was also supporting water and sanitation activities as well as providing supplies and technical guidance to look at all aspects of health, water and sanitation as well as child protection, she added.

Two UNICEF charter flights bringing more than 70 tons of essential humanitarian supplies had arrived in Juba this week, a 22 January report from the organization said.