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Measles cases spike in Central Papua as pediatric immunizations fall behind
Between Jan. 1 and March 3, there were 397 cases of measles recorded in Central Papua’s seven out of eight regencies.
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mid lagging pediatric vaccination, Central Papua is struggling to curb the spread of measles in the newly created province, as health authorities report close to 400 cases since the start of the year.
Between Jan. 1 and March 3, there were 397 cases of measles recorded in Central Papua’s seven out of eight regencies, which were carved out of Papua province some eight months ago.
This was a sharp increase compared with previous years, with Mimika regency being hardest hit so far, followed by Nabire and Paniai regencies, said the Health Ministry’s director general for disease control and prevention, Maxi Rein Rondonuwu.
“Two deaths have been recorded, one case in Nabire and the other in Paniai," Maxi said in a statement on Saturday, adding that a further 19 cases were still receiving medical treatment.
Maxi said that the recent surge in measles infections could be put down to Central Papua’s slow measles and rubella (MR) immunization rollout.
"Based on our findings in the field, 87 percent of reported [measles] cases have never received the MR immunization. This is true for most age groups," Maxi said, adding that the low coverage put Central Papua at risk of more measles cases.
According to Health Ministry records, only 64 percent of children in Central Papua have had their first dose of the MR immunization. The coverage is even lower, at 48 percent, for the second dose of the immunization.
To this end, Maxi said that the Health Ministry had begun coordinating with local health agencies to increase surveillance of measles cases, accelerating the rollout of MR vaccines and equipping health facilities with the necessary equipment to deal with more outbreaks.
Read also: RI measles cases skyrocket amid pediatric vaccination lag
The surge in measles cases in Central Papua followed a nationwide trend last year, when Indonesia recorded 3,341 cases, some 32 times higher than the year before.
Last year, more than a dozen cities and regencies, mostly located in Sumatra, declared extraordinary health occurrences (KLB) in response to measles outbreaks.
As in the case of Central Papua, authorities attribute the nationwide spike to the fact that many children missed out routine childhood vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic, with nearly 60 percent of children infected with measles last year not having had a single dose of the vaccine against the disease. Some 12 percent of these children had at least one dose, while health authorities could not ascertain the immunization status of the remainder.
Last year, the government began offering catch-up vaccinations for children who had missed their pediatric shots.
As part of the national strategy to stamp out measles this year, the Health Ministry has instructed local health agencies to increase health monitoring. In addition, it has enlisted the help of the Home Ministry; the Education, Culture, Research and Technology Ministry; and the Religious Affairs Ministry in an initiative to bring the government’s pediatric immunization program to all elementary schools in the nation.
Indonesia last year enacted four new laws that carved out a total of four new provinces in Papua and West Papua.
