YAOUNDE, CAMEROON — Chad health officials have sealed several dozen schools, sent thousands of children and their teachers home, and restricted movements to and from the Bologo district — 400 kilometers south of the capital, N’djamena — to contain a measles epidemic. Officials blame vaccine hesitancy for the rapid measles spread within the past two weeks.
State TV reports that thousands of children in Chad’s Bologo district have been ordered to stay home for a week as their schools remain closed to prevent measles from spreading. Many churches and mosques in the district are closed too.
About 50 cases of measles were confirmed within the past two weeks, said Oumar Mahamat Traore, chief health official in Bologo, appointed by Chad’s central government in N’djamena.
He said the situation is very concerning because all seven of the hospitals in Bologo district have at least five children receiving treatment for measles. He said parents should make sure all children having high fever, runny nose, red and watery eyes and rashes on their faces and bodies accompanied by small white spots inside the mouth are immediately rushed to the nearest hospital, where they will receive free treatment.
Traore spoke to VOA on Saturday by telephone. He said it is difficult to know the number of children affected by the measles epidemic because more than 80% of civilians in Bologo prefer African traditional medicine and go to conventional hospitals only in critical circumstances.
Hospitals have not reported any deaths, but some affected children are in critical condition, according to government officials.
Chad’s government said health workers have been dispatched to Bologo and surrounding towns and villages to educate civilians against popular beliefs that the viral disease is divine punishment for wrongdoing and can be treated only by offering traditional sacrifices to the gods.
Health workers are raising awareness that measles can be treated with conventional medicine.
The United Nations reports that measles is one of the main causes of death among children in Chad. Outbreaks occur often because vaccination coverage remains low throughout the central African state.
Chad’s Health Ministry says vaccine hesitancy is to blame for millions of children not being inoculated against childhood diseases including measles.
In 2023, Doctors Without Borders reported that more than 1.3 million children between the ages of 6 months and 10 years old were inoculated against measles.
Chad said there were plans with its international partners to inoculate at least 4 million children in the country of close to 18 million people.
But armed conflicts and tensions triggered by elections to end a three-year transition that followed the death of President Idriss Deby Itno in 2021 made it impossible for humanitarian agencies to continue vaccination drives.
Officials hope that with peace returning and constitutional order reestablished — with the election of Mahamat Idriss Deby as president and the new parliament — more vaccine campaigns will be organized.
Measles is a highly contagious infection of the respiratory system that can lead to severe complications and death. The U.N. says it is one of the most contagious diseases in the world.
In the absence of specific treatment, vaccination is the most effective medical tool against measles, the World Health Organization said. The vaccine is safe, effective and inexpensive, according to the U.N.
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