By RFIPosted on 25-03-2019Modified on 25-03-2019 at 23:51

In Madagascar, the measles epidemic has infected nearly 83,000 people since October, according to the latest estimates from the World Health Organization. While the third mass vaccination campaign began on Monday, March 25, the strategy of response to the epidemic plans to vaccinate between 7 to 8 million children in all, reporting in northern Madagascar, in one of the districts the most affected of the country, that of Ambilobe near Diego Suarez.

Lying on her stomach, Anastasia lies on her hospital bed. At the end of her strength, she breathes weakly. Her mother, preoccupied, has a hard time letting go of her eyes. Anastasia contracted measles 15 days ago: at 4 years old, she weighs 4 kilos.

" This is the third time she has caught measles. We have already done all the treatments, we went through the clinic, we went back to the hospital to continue the treatment and finally to make the vaccine. In the end, the doctors decided to hospitalize her until she regained a normal weight. "

We do not die of the measles virus, the doctors specify, but the complications that this entails. In Madagascar, vaccination coverage is low: 58% in 2017, which explains in part why the disease has grown so much.

In Ambilobe , rather than the vaccine, we still prefer to see the healer. A reflex that makes hospital care complicated, says Dr. Razafimandimby. She works at the health center of the city.

" We must prioritize medical treatment, and after, according to the tradition or faith of each, they can go to the healer, " she says. But you have to have medical treatment first, there is vitamin A that children who are victims of measles must take .

Measles has killed nearly 1,000 people in the country since October. The plague in 2017 had killed 200 people.

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