Brazzaville — A measles epidemic has claimed six lives in the region between Sembe and Souanke, two villages 185 km and 245 km west of the city of Ouesso, capital of Sangha Department in northern Republic of Congo, a departmental health official told IRIN on Sunday.

The director of humanitarian response for Sangha, Odette Momabayaka, said the epidemic threatened to spread southward, to the neighbouring Department of Cuvette. She said that the villages of Attention and Liouesso had already been affected.

"Although a field evaluation needs to be carried out, we have neither the logistical nor financial means to do this, and thereby provide care to the children," she said.

In January, a measles epidemic erupted in the area of Pikounda, a village 180 km southeast of Ouesso. Of 95 registered cases, one person died.

"In order to stop that epidemic, we had to walk 65 km between Pikounda and Ekouomou, carrying medical kits on our heads," she said.

She added that the support of Caritas Congo and the Sisters of Charity Congregation had been essential.

She blamed the outbreak of these epidemics on weak vaccination coverage.

"Along the Sembe-Souanke axis, many children have never been vaccinated against measles," she said. "This is why measles keeps returning in an almost cyclical manner, every two or three years."