Syrian medics launched Tuesday the first cholera vaccination campaign in the opposition-held northwest since a deadly outbreak began in September, amid increased fears of contagion after last month’s devastating earthquake, AFP reported.
The World Health Organization and UNICEF sent 1.7 million cholera vaccines to northwest Syria in January in preparation for the inoculation campaign.
The campaign kicked off in Maarrat Misrin where health workers were going door to door to inoculate people in homes and displacement camps, an AFP correspondent said.
A health official had told AFP the campaign targets “high-risk areas” such as Maarrat Misrin, Sarmada, Ad Dana, and Atme in Idlib, as well as Aazaz in the north of Aleppo.
Even before the quake, nearly two-thirds of Syria’s water treatment plants, half of the pumping stations, and one-third of water towers had already been ravaged by the war that has been ongoing since 2011, the UN has said.
“The disease can spread in residential areas lacking proper sewerage and drinking water systems,” Ammar Ammar of the UN children's agency UNICEF had told AFP.
For vulnerable children, an increase in waterborne diseases “could be catastrophic", he added.
Three million people live in areas controlled by Tahrir al-Sham in Idlib while 1.1 million reside in areas controlled by the Turkish forces and its pro-factions in the north of Aleppo.
Syria's first cholera outbreak since 2009 has killed at least 26 people in areas outside Syrian regime control since September, according to Idlib health official Zuhair Karrat.
Local authorities have recorded 565 cases of the extremely virulent disease, Karrat added.
Across Syria around 85,000 suspected cases have been logged, according to the United Nations.
