According to the departmental spokesperson, Mondli Mvambi, the department has also unleashed the Immunisation Programme in accordance with the Road to Health Booklet, as part of encouraging parents, caregivers, guardians and the community to ensure that all children from 6 months to 15 years are immunised to curb all vaccine/immunisation preventable diseases. 

The Department of Education has also alerted educators of the campaign and they were requested to be vigilant of learners who are presenting with symptoms (fever -38C, general rash, any of the following - cough, runny nose and redness of the eyes). The relevant health authorities must be informed immediately.

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Mvambi states that the following towns in the province have recorded cases, while the Mangaung Metro Municipality has no known cases.

•Bethlehem - 12 cases

•Qwaqwa - 1 case

•Reitz - 1 case

•Clocolan - 1 case

•Warden - 1 case

•Frankfort – 1 case

•Kroonstad – 3 cases

•Welkom – 1 case

•Springfontein – 1 case

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He explains that in another step, contact tracing and screening of affected children are being done by the District Disease Outbreak Response teams to manage the outbreak in the affected towns.  

Contacts that are without symptoms are being immunised. “Community surveillance is strengthened to identity cases in the communities.” Other steps that have been taken to address the outbreak is to intensify community education and awareness through Health Promotion teams, regarding adherence to the Routine Immunisation Schedule, and alerts have been issued to facilities to intensify identification of cases.

“In addition, the province is implementing a comprehensive response to the measles outbreak and implements an awareness campaign that should sufficiently empower the community with information as well as to make the public an integral part of the response,” he further explained.

A special thanks is given by the department to the Red Cross and UNICEF for unleashing their Disaster Management capabilities and community mobilisation through an Interactive Digital Truck that engages the community with pre-packaged information that is broadcast to the communities the truck visits, covering the length and the breadth of the province.

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