The health authorities in Nampula, northern Mozambique, vaccinated around 1.8 million children against measles and rubella, a figure lower than expected due to the post-election protests, an official source told Lusa on Tuesday.
“This result was possible due to the performance of all the players involved in this process, despite the various adversities that the province went through, combined with the political context of the demonstrations, whose activities were carried out with some timidity, especially in the areas where cases were recorded such as Eráti, Lalaua, Moma, Mogovolas and others,” Samuel Carlos, a representative of the Nampula Provincial Health Service, told Lusa.
Between 9 and 14 December, the health sector carried out a mass vaccination campaign against measles and rubella in the 23 districts of Nampula province, following the registration of 11 deaths due to the diseases.
According to Samuel Carlos, a total of 2,024,840 were expected to be vaccinated in order to cut the chain of transmission of the diseases, but only 1,803,808 were vaccinated, a figure that he considers ‘satisfactory’, despite the difficulties arising from the demonstrations that have been taking place in the country since October.
“We’re hoping that we’ve really done the job so that we don’t have any measles cases registered. And our appeal is that we continue to disseminate messages about the need for parents and carers to take their children (…) to the nearest centres so that they can benefit not only from the measles and rubella vaccine, but [also] from others,” he said.
Mozambique has been experiencing a climate of intense social unrest since October, with demonstrations and stoppages called first by former presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, who rejects the election results of 9 October.
Today, protests, now on a smaller scale, have been taking place in different parts of the country and, as well as contesting the results, people are complaining about the rising cost of living and other social problems.
Since October, at least 327 people have died, including around two dozen minors, and around 750 have been shot during the protests, according to the electoral platform Decide, a non-governmental organisation that monitors electoral processes.
Lusa
