Save the Children launched a catch-up vaccination campaign against measles

The first case was reported on May 20th, 2022, and Surveillance teams on ground collected blood samples from the suspected measles cases and sent them to laboratory for confirmation. To date, a total of 307 cases and 18 associated deaths were reported. To prevent the spread of the disease and to save the lives of children dying from the disease, Save the Children through its internal funding source has worked together with Somali Regional health bureau, the Babile district health office, and the local communities to support the measles campaign in areas where measles outbreak was reported. In addition, Save the Children is providing technical support to the Regional health bureau, zonal health department, and district health offices with community mobilization/ demand promotion, cold chain management, planning, and to strengthen routine immunization services through capacity building and other support. Since the launch of the project and with the two rounds of the campaign, a total of 49,000 children were vaccinated against measles and some 4,500 children who were defaulters from routine immunization programs were traced and referred for vaccination. 

Save the Children has also deployed its emergency health and nutrition teams to identify and treat malnourished children and linked them to immunization services at health facilities. We are expanding our operations and need valuable resource allocation to step-up support in areas that have been most affected by the drought and disease outbreaks.