Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. The International Committee of the Red Cross says the government of Zimbabwe stopped publishing figures of children dying of measles in September in order to avoid public panic.
In its report released on 11 November Titled “Operation Update 1: Measles Outbreak”, the Red Cross said 750 children succumbed to the disease between April and 2 October 2022. It said:
The tracking and publication of measles data for the public by the Ministry of Health on Twitter was stopped in September to minimise public panic.
… This outbreak raised alarm bells internationally, with organisations like UNICEF, Red Cross and the WHO expressing concern and activating an emergency response strategy to provide support and resources to the Government of Zimbabwe (GoZ).
The first case was recorded in Manicaland province on 10 April 2022 in Mutasa district and by 31 August, 639 children had succumbed to the virus accumulating to 750 deaths by early October.
In response, the Government of Zimbabwe rolled out a nationwide emergency immunisation programme targeting 95% of all children from 6-59 months and in some instances up to 15 years in an attempt to attain herd immunity.
When the novel coronavirus was first detected in Zimbabwe in March 2020, the government was also accused of under-reporting cases and deaths in order to avoid causing panic.
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