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Cameroon launched a five-day vaccination campaign targeting children amid an outbreak of measles and rubella.

Out of Cameroon’s 200 health districts, 99 have reported cases of measles affecting children below 10 years old, Shalom Ndoula, Secretary of the Expanded Immunization Program in the Ministry of Public Health said.

“In Cameroon, the disease has affected more than 4,000 children with 18 deaths so far and that is a worrying situation,” Ndoula told reporters in the capital city of Yaounde.

“It is a nationwide campaign, but the targeted children are children from nine months to five years that are the most affected by the measles outbreak.” he added.

According to the program, about 5.5 million children will be vaccinated in Cameroon.