Fifteen children have died in rural South Sudan as the result of a botched measles vaccination campaign, the government and United Nations said Friday.

The deaths occurred in the remote village of Nachodokopele in the south-east, where about 300 children aged up to 5 years old were vaccinated.

An investigation supported by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN children's fund UNICEF found that the deaths were caused by severe toxicity resulting from the administration of a contaminated vaccine, according to the statement.

The untrained vaccination team used a single reconstitution syringe for multiple vaccine vials for the entire four days of the campaign and kept vaccines in a building with no adequate cold storage facilities during that time.

Thirty-two other children suffered symptoms of fever, vomiting and diarrhoea, but recovered, the statement added.

The local vaccination teams had been trained by development partners, including WHO, WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said in Geneva.

‘We have to look into why the training was not passed on to the teams on the ground,’ he added.

The vaccines had been supplied by UNICEF.

South Sudanese Health Minister Riek Gai Kok expressed ‘deep regret and sadness at the passing of the children.’  ‘These tragic events could have been prevented by adhering to the WHO standards of safety,’ he said at a press conference.

The risk of measles remains high in South Sudan because an ongoing military conflict has disrupted health services. The country has experienced measles outbreaks caused by a backlog of unvaccinated children, according to the UN.

Malnutrition and suspected cholera cases are meanwhile escalating among people sheltering in the bush near Pieri in western Jonglei region, the medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said.

More than 27,000 people have fled fighting between the army and rebel groups in the area since mid-February, according to the statement.

Witnesses say civilians were killed, raped and their houses burned to the ground. Many of the displaced are now living under trees and eating leaves to survive.

Suspected cases of cholera have been reported among the displaced, as well as high levels of malnutrition among children under five, MSF said.

South Sudan was plunged into a military conflict when a split between President Salva Kiir and his former deputy Riek Machar escalated in December 2013. Tens of thousands have been killed and about 3.8 million displaced. 

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