Funding injection allows UN agencies to fight outbreaks of measles, meningitis in Chad

The United Nations has allocated $2.7 million in emergency funding to two of its humanitarian agencies so they can help combat fresh outbreaks of measles and meningitis in Chad.

The Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), set up in 2006 to allow the UN to dispatch funds to tackle disasters and crises as soon as they emerge, is giving about $1.9 million to the World Health Organization (WHO) and almost $850,000 to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The two agencies aim to vaccinate about 627,000 young Chadians against meningitis, and some 966,000 children against measles, according to a press release issued by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) earlier this month.

Outbreaks of meningitis and measles have become more and more common in Chad in recent years, and they are also becoming increasingly severe.

This year an outbreak of measles has been reported in the capital, N’Djamena, and in the western and central regions of Chad, while a meningococcal epidemic has been recorded in the south.