Congo Kinshasa: Measles causes complications at Basankusu malnutrition centre

A dark spectre has cast its long shadow over the country: first in other parts, so we thought we’d be safe, then the shadow fell over the town of Basankusu, where I work. The spectre is measles. Eight thousand children have died in the Congo in the last year from the current epidemic – by comparison, Ebola virus has killed two thousand in the past two years.

Children at the centre with energy/protein deficiency
Basankusu, DR Congo

Vaccinations take place throughout Congo in a massive internationally funded programme - and it’s free. Even so, a lot of children miss out for various reasons, especially in the outlying villages where they’re beyond healthcare. A growing concern is the number of pseudo-Christian sects, do-it-yourself churches that discourage modern medicine. Measles is a high-risk illness to begin with, but for children who are already underweight it can be deadly. The illness itself usually causes diarrhoea, which then causes rapid weight loss and the loss of a lot of essential nutrients; the body becomes dehydrated.

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Our main fear is, of course, that a child might introduce measles into my malnutrition centre where it would spread quickly with devastating consequences. We work closely with our local Catholic hospital who have so far arranged separate rooms for any of our children suspected of having measles. Eventually, they’ll run out of space!

We presently have seventy children registered at our centre, at least ten in that group have recently had measles.

Malnourished children at our centre in Basankusu waiting to be fed

“Don’t worry, Francis,” reassured Germain, one of the nurses at the hospital, “once measles has finished in someone, they can’t pass it on to anyone else.” I was relieved to hear it.

“Actually,” he continued, “it would be good if you could open more centres for malnutrition in the villages outside Basankusu where the need is great. I notice that a lot of the children at your centre have been carried great distances on their parents’ backs. It would be good if they had somewhere near to where they live.”

Nurse Germain at the hospital

Of course, I agreed with him. “The only problem is paying for it all. People in Middlesbrough Diocese have been very kind so far, but we are still battling against the tide. If donations don’t increase soon, even the work we are doing in Basankusu will have to be reduced.”

Germain looked puzzled for a moment. As he looked around the bare concrete floor of the hospital ward, with four rusty metal-framed beds in it, he was probably thinking that people from England could never run out of money.

“Tell them that I sent you,” he smiled.

“I will indeed,” I smiled back.