Measles − which can be serious and even fatal to small children – is spreading widely from house to house in internally displaced persons’ camps and host communities in the Dikwa Local Government Area in Borno State.

Mustapha Fannami, a resident of Klagoro Camp, said for the past four months the disease had been spreading. One of the problems, he said, was that there was not sufficient medicine to stop the disease.

He said they desperately needed help from the government and non-governmental organisations.

Another internally displaced person, Kaltum Mele, emphasised the need for what she described as “emergency assistance”.

She said measles was spreading, particularly among the many children in internally displaced persons’ camps.

“We cannot get the right medicine and the drugs we do get don’t cure the children,” she said.

Muhammad Kashim, a health worker at the New GRA Clinic in Maiduguri, urged parents not to skip immunisation routines, especially the anti-measles vaccine, because that was the main way to prevent the spread of the disease.

“When such an outbreak emerges, parents should separate infected children from healthy ones until they have recovered. An infected child must be fed nutritious meals and should be kept in a cool, well-ventilated area.”

Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) – also known as Doctors Without Borders – said hundreds of children were falling ill with measles in Borno State, especially in the small town of Zabarmari.

The international medical humanitarian organisation said a vaccination campaign was needed urgently to curb the epidemic in Zabarmari and the state capital, Maiduguri.

Most of the patients in Zabarmari had been admitted to MSF-managed Gwange Paediatric Hospital in Maiduguri.

Statistics showed that 58% of the children admitted to the hospital were from Zabarmari, a settlement of 45,000 people, about 20km from Maiduguri.

David Thérond, MSF head of mission, was earlier this month quoted as saying: “We are engaged in discussions with the authorities and preparing to support them in a catch-up vaccination campaign in Maiduguri and Zabarmari as soon as vaccines are available, because measles is extremely contagious and especially dangerous for young children.”

The vaccination plan was being discussed at state and federal levels with the Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation.

MSF reported that the first child with measles was admitted on December 3 2020 at Gwange but the number of patients had increased. From January 1 to April 3, MSF admitted 1,158 children with measles at Gwange. There were measles patients – mostly children – at other hospitals in the region.

Borno State has had repeated measles epidemics in the past decade. In 2019, eight local government areas of Borno State were affected and MSF treated 4,000 children in Gwange and Bama hospitals.

MSF said several factors contributed to the epidemic: routine vaccinations were not carried out because, according to health authorities, more than 60% of health centres were closed or unable to function properly because of conflict in the region. Attacks by insurgents had forced out some aid organisations that had been providing healthcare in remote areas.