The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Edited News | OCHA , WHO , UNOG
UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing: Measles Outbreak Samoa - OCHA & WHO
Efforts to help the small Pacific island of Samoa overcome a deadly measles outbreak have received a $2.6 million boost from the UN’s emergency fund, CERF.
The development – announced in New York by the organisation’s emergency relief chief Mark Lowcock - comes as deaths from the preventable disease reached 70, the vast majority being children under five.
“The United Nations’ emergency response fund, the CERF, has released $2.6 million to help responders scale up and fight back against the devastating measles outbreak in Samoa,” Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told journalists in Geneva on Tuesday.
“As of this morning, 4,819 measles cases have been reported to the Disease Surveillance Team since the outbreak started, according to the Ministry of Health in Samoa,” Mr. Laerke added. “There were 87 cases recorded over the past 24 hours.”
Amid reports that Samoan health providers have been “overwhelmed” by the outbreak, which was declared on 15 November, the OCHA official added that the funds would be used to provide emergency vaccinations, obstetric and neonatal care for mothers and newborns infected with measles.
In addition, the funding will help to deliver mental health and psychosocial support and provide clean water and sanitation, along with public health information.
To date, more than 120 medical teams from the World Health Organization (WHO) have also deployed throughout the country to assist with the vaccination drive.
The UN has also backed another national campaign, with workers going door-to-door to promote awareness about the importance of getting inoculations.
Such moves are seen as vital to rebuilding community confidence and trust following the deaths last year of two babies during routine vaccination, amid strong anti-vaccination sentiment.
“Obviously this is a tragedy that you can have 61 child(ren) and nine other people being basically killed by a virus that is completely preventable,” said Tarik Jasarevic, WHO spokesperson.
Shortly after the outbreak was declared on 15 November, Samoan authorities launched a mass vaccination campaign, at the same time as they announced a state of emergency.
“So far, about 90 per cent of the 143,000 people it targeted have been reached, Mr. Laerke said, noting that the island nation was not alone in suffering a measles outbreak, linked to low immunisation coverage.
“By the end of November 2019, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and American Samoa have all reported measles outbreaks,” he said. “Prior to the ongoing outbreaks, measles vaccine coverage varied in Pacific island countries and areas, ranging from 31 per cent in Samoa to 99 per cent in the Cook Islands and Nauru.”
To contain the public health threat, the Government of Samoa has launched a national appeal for nearly $11 million, as it works to vaccinate its population and treat those who have already been affected.
Its youngest citizens are most at risk, OCHA said in a statement, along with pregnant women and new mothers.
- Wide shot: exterior, flag alley, sunny and windy conditions, Palais des Nations, United Nations Geneva.
- Medium shot: Press room, journalists, podium speakers.
- Medium shot: back of journalist’s head wearing listening piece in foreground, another journalist opposite with hand obscuring mouth.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) Jens Laerke, spokesperson, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “The United Nations’ emergency response fund, the CERF, has released $2.6 million to help responders scale up and fight back against the devastating measles outbreak in Samoa.”
- Medium shot: journalist wearing headphones to left of shot, other journalists to rear.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) Jens Laerke, spokesperson, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “As of this morning, 4,819 measles cases have been reported to the Disease Surveillance Team since the outbreak started, according to the Ministry of Health in Samoa. There were 87 cases recorded over the past 24 hours.”
- Medium shot: journalist writing on laptop, wearing headphones, back of another journalist’s head to right of shot in close up.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) Tarik Jasarevic, spokesperson, World Health Organization (WHO): “Obviously this is a tragedy that you can have 61 child(ren) and nine other people being basically killed by a virus that is completely preventable.”
- Medium shot: journalists typing on laptops.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) Jens Laerke, spokesperson, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “The Government of Samoa, with support from the UN and the international community, launched a mass vaccination campaign on 20 November. This campaign has so far reached about 90 per cent of the 143,000 people it targeted.”
- Close up, journalist looking down.
- Medium shot: journalists typing on laptops.
- SOUNDBITE (EN) Jens Laerke, spokesperson, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA): “Prior to the ongoing outbreaks, measles vaccine coverage varied in Pacific island countries and areas, ranging from only 31 per cent in Samoa to 99 per cent in the Cook Islands and Nauru.”
- Medium shot: journalists, one reading, the other checking his mobile phone.
- Medium shot: podium with three speakers, table in foreground.
- Medium shot: journalists in foreground and to rear.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN rights chief concerned by upheld convictions of Cambodian activists.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR , OHCHR
Middle East crisis puts aid, food, fuel further out of reach for millions already struggling – UN agencies
As the Middle East crisis continues the humanitarian fallout is worsening, with aid route disruptions and food and fuel price hikes wrecking the lives and rights of the most vulnerable, UN agencies warned on Friday.
1
1
2
Edited News | UNMAS
Demining experts from around the world have been sharing their collective shock at the widespread and growing threat from unexploded ordnance, the new head of the UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) said on Wednesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN Human Rights Office in Syria conducted a 5-day visit to the northeast of the country where they received accounts of human rights violations and abuses.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF
Sudan: ‘History repeating itself’ for Darfur’s children - UNICEF
Mass atrocities in Sudan’s Darfur 20 years ago reverberated as far as Hollywood, but today, a new generation of children faces attacks, hunger and displacement in an emergency largely ignored by the outside world, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Tuesday.
1
1
Edited News | WHO , UNMAS
Desperate and dangerous conditions in Gaza continue to hamper recovery efforts for the wartorn enclave's people, the UN health agency said on Friday, while demining experts warned that they’ve “barely scratched the surface” in assessing the level of contamination of unexploded ordnance.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News
The continued support of UN Member States to Lebanon will be “indispensable” to boost the country’s national armed forces and provide humanitarian assistance with more than one million people still uprooted by the Middle East war, the UN's peacekeeping chief said on Wednesday.
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | UNECE
Middle East war: After oil and gas shortages, concerns grow over critical minerals crunch
The shipping crisis in the Strait of Hormuz caused by war in the Middle East has exposed a new threat: a looming shortage of strategic minerals needed to drive economies all over the world and a race by countries to obtain them.
1
1
1
Edited News | IOM
Millions of desperate Sudanese return home amid dire conditions as war rages – IOM
Three years into the devastating conflict in Sudan, nearly four million displaced people have returned to their places of origin across the country, only to face “another struggle for survival”, the UN International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNESCO
UNESCO protects cultural sites in war-torn Middle East, confirming damage to key heritage.
1
1
1
Edited News | UN WOMEN
The war in Gaza has inflicted a far higher toll on women and girls than in previous conflicts in the Palestinian enclave, with more than 38,000 killed by Israeli air bombardment and land military operations since Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel sparked the war in October 2023, UN Women said on Friday.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNHCR
In 2025, nearly 900 Rohingya refugees were reported missing or dead in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal, making it the deadliest year on record in South and Southeast Asia, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Friday.