Measles Campaign in Aweil East.

Since the beginning of 2019, measles outbreaks have been confirmed in 12 counties and four Protection of Civilians (PoC) sites in South Sudan. Cumulatively a total of 1214 cases have been reported with 79 laboratory-confirmed cases and seven deaths.

Aweil East County is one of the five counties in Northern Bahr Ghazal State with a total catchment population estimated at 406,459 of which 77,227 are children aged 6-59 months. The county shares border with Aweil Centre County in the west, Aweil South County in the south, Warrap State in the east and Sudan in the north.

A measles outbreak was declared in Aweil East on 13 May 2019 after six cases tested positive for measles-specific immunoglobin (IgM) antibodies out of the 23 cases on the line list. The outbreak has been attributed to low immunisation coverage and high immunisation dropout rate. This trend has led to low herd immunity in the population and increased susceptibility to vaccine preventable diseases, including measles. Effective protection against measles transmission requires vaccination of 90-95% of the vulnerable populations

With funding from Health Pooled Fund, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in collaboration with the County Health Department/State Ministry of Health, World Health Organisation (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and other partners successfully mounted a 7 days measles campaign geared to improving the herd immunity against measles among children under 5 years at a cost of GBP 49,876.

Although the campaign coincided with the peak rain season in Aweil East leading to flooding and inaccessibility of some areas, the vaccination teams managed to vaccinate 71,644 children aged 6-59 months (93% coverage) against measles.

In addition to the vaccination of children during the campaign, the campaign served as an opportunity for intensified community mobilisation and demand creation for routine immunisation services offered at the health facilities.