South Africa concerned by measles outbreak in Zimbabwe

Thirty-eight measles cases have been reported in Zimbabwe amid rising concerns about the large number of unvaccinated individuals in the country. No deaths have been recorded so far. Authorities are working to implement targeted interventions, especially toward religious groups who reject modern medicine. News of the outbreak has worried South Africans due to intense cross-border movements during the Easter weekend. Speaking with eNCA, Dr Kerrigan McCarthy, Senior Pathologist at the Centre for Vaccines and Immunology at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, said that the situation in Zimbabwe is concerning for neighbouring South Africa, though the country is already facing a measles outbreak within its borders. Vaccination rates remain a pressing matter for the medical community. The groups most at risk from the disease are young children who have not been vaccinated yet and immunocompromised individuals like HIV/AIDS patients. Dr McCarthy remarked that people are reluctant to vaccinate due to difficulty accessing vaccines and ignorance about vaccination requirements. She said that strengthening the vaccine supply chain and promoting public awareness about the importance of vaccination should solve these problems, increasing the number of protected persons.