Why measles is sweeping through Afghanistan

This week on Health Check, polio makes an unwelcome return to the African continent and measles cases are soaring among children in Afghanistan. We hear from WHO spokesperson Dr Margaret Harris and Médecins Sans Frontières’ Sarah Vuylsteke and Maxime Pirard who are based at Herat Regional Hospital in western Afghanistan.

We also hear how the pandemic has impacted children worldwide, from disruption to routine vaccination services to studies suggesting high mortality rates among children with Covid-19 in sub-Saharan Africa.

Now Covid-19 has exposed gaps in health care systems and inequalities in societies around the world. We discuss how the pandemic has galvanised calls for healthcare independence for African countries, and Dr Yen Lam Minh and Dr Louise Thwaites tell us about the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit programme which will develop high-quality intensive care in Vietnam.

Our guest is public health expert Dr Tabitha Mwangi who managed the Cambridge Africa programme at Cambridge University.

Presenter: Marnie Chesterton Producers: Samara Linton and Ilan Goodman

(Picture: Afghan internally-displaced children stand outside their mud house at Shaidayee refugee camp in Herat province in February 2022. Photo credit: Wakil Kohsar/AFP/Getty Images.)