Congo-Kinshasa: Ebola Vaccinations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo - in the Community, By the Community

The courtyard of the Musuniene Health Centre, normally quiet, rings with the sounds of adolescents running, playing and chatting in the open space, undaunted by the intense heat. The youth - all students at the Centre Professionnel Vusigha, a local technical school - are waiting for their turn to be vaccinated against the Ebola virus disease. Jean-Marie Kambale, their teacher, emerges from the health centre and proudly displays his vaccination certificate. "I am very happy because I am now protected against Ebola," he said. Kambale had brought 50 of his students to be vaccinated.

Musuniene, a large village about an hour's drive outside the city of Butembo, sits within territory held by the Mai Mai armed group. Despite the security risk, a vaccination team is in place to make sure that a number of people who are listed as contacts of Ebola patients and who have recently travelled to Musuniene are reached with vaccines. They are also vaccinating first-line health workers who have recently joined the team to serve in Ebola transit centres. When Kambale heard radio messages about the ring vaccination campaign, he decided the best course of action would be to bring the children to the health centre. Under the protocols implemented by WHO, all those who are contacts of people who have been diagnosed with Ebola, everyone who is a contact of a contact, and all those who are probable contacts - anyone in a health zone where there is a confirmed case - are eligible to receive the vaccine.

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