United nations
The World Health Organization said that more than 900,000 doses of cholera vaccines arrived in Lebanon yesterday, Wednesday, thanks to the
support provided by the organization and the international coordination team.
These doses, which are the first batch of an additional 1.8 million doses allocated to the country and funded by the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund and the Emergency Reserve Fund, will be used during the second phase of the oral cholera vaccination campaign under the supervision of the Ministry of Public Health and with the support of partners.
The first campaign was launched in mid-November 2022, and the vaccination coverage rate reached more than 90 percent of the targeted refugees and the communities hosting them in hotspots and areas affected by the outbreak.
“It is with great pleasure that we see the fruit of our collective efforts with the Ministry of Public Health and all partners despite the global shortage of cholera vaccines,” said Dr Abdel Nasser Abu Bakr, WHO Representative in Lebanon.
The WHO representative indicated that more work remains to be done, including accelerating the activation and support of rapid response teams at the field level, improving the situation of water and sanitation services, strengthening coordination at the sub-national level, increasing community participation, and maintaining stocks of supplies. Medical and personal protective equipment.
Since the announcement of the first case of cholera on 6 October 2022, 5,135 suspected cholera cases have been reported, of which 658 cases have been laboratory confirmed, in addition to 23 deaths. Among the twenty districts in which laboratory-confirmed cases were recorded, the governorates of Akkar and the North still have the largest number of cases.
The World Health Organization said it needed about $11.2 million for a six-month cholera response in Lebanon, but only 29 percent of the funding required has been available so far.
It is noteworthy that the International Coordination Group on Vaccines provides management and coordination for the provision of urgent supplies of vaccines and antibiotics to countries during major disease outbreaks, and it also manages the global stock of oral cholera vaccine. The team is made up of members from the World Health Organization, Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.