11 April 2011
Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) is airlifting emergency immunizations and health workers into remote areas of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to fight a measles epidemic which has already claimed the lives of 210 people.
Pilot Garth Pederson says MAF has flown 12 measles related emergency flights since January, including four within the last 10 days that transported 35 Congolese and European health workers to Tshikapa in Kasai province, 350 miles east of the capital Kinshasa. From there, workers travel by vehicle or motorcycle to outlying communities.
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Health and humanitarian workers report that the measles virus has spread beyond a few rural areas to cities and is poised to move beyond five provinces to the rest of the country. The highly contagious disease can lead to pneumonia, severe dehydration, blindness and death, especially among children. According to international medical aid agency Médicins Sans Frontières, measles can kill as many as 15 percent of the children it infects. That number rises to 25 percent among those with impaired access to healthcare.
The few existing roads in DRC are in poor condition and in the rainy season they’re totally impassable, hence air travel is the sole means of transport in most of the country.
MAF has been working in DRC for 50 years, providing support for aid and development agencies, churches and missions.
MAF UK’s head office is in Folkestone. MAF operates in more than 35 countries across the developing world. To find out more about MAF’s work in DRC and in other developing nations, visit www.maf-uk.org