LONDON (AlertNet) - Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) has been forced to suspend a measles vaccination programme after fighting broke out on Oct. 20 in Dayniile, on the outskirts of the Somali capital Mogadishu.
Combined with malnutrition, measles is now the main killer of children in Somalia where famine has been declared in several southern and central regions.
“Only vaccination can stop the spread of the epidemic," Duncan McLean, head of MSF programmes in Somalia, said in a statement.
MSF said its measles campaign has been scheduled to reach 35,000 children over three weeks. During the first five days of the campaign, 4,831 children aged six months to 15 years were vaccinated in different parts of Dayniile.
But clashes between government forces supported by the African Union peacekeeping mission AMISOM, and al Shabaab fighters put a stop to the vaccinations.
"As long as the security situation is not stabilised, it will not be possible to resume the vaccination campaign," McLean said. "And when this happens, we will have to completely rethink our strategy because many people have fled the combat zones."
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