Concerns over cholera outbreak in Syria, calls for action
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Since the end of August, Syrian governorates of Aleppo and Deir ez-Zor have become the hotbed of a new deadly outbreak of cholera, which now poses a big threat to a population that has already been languishing in the war-torn country.
On September 12, a report published by the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Syria Imran Riza said that at least eight people died to the disease and nearly 1.000 showed symptoms between August 25 and September 10, when the Syrian Ministry of Health declared an outbreak of cholera in Aleppo Governorate following 15 confirmed laboratory cases.
Riza expressed serious concern over the ongoing outbreak, saying the “epidemic poses a serious threat to the people of Syria and the entire region,” and called for “urgent action to prevent further transmission and more casualties.”
According to Riza’s report, most of the cases were reported in Aleppo (around %72), and Deir ez-Zor (around %21), which is controlled by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES). However, according to Sana, the state-run news agency, the official number of laboratory-confirmed cases is just over 60.
The AANES office of Humanitarian Organisations Affairs in Deir ez-Zor called on all national and international organisations to help raise awareness about cholera and provide medicines and medical supplies to hospitals and medical centres in the Deir ez-Zor region.”
Syria’s water infrastructure was already insufficient before the start of the 2011 civil war. Now, more than a decade later, the consequences of the conflict, which have deepened the shortage of safe drinking water, have left nearly 5 million of the country’s population without direct access to safe water sources.
“In Syria, nearly two thirds of water treatment plants, half pumping stations and one third of water towers have been damaged because of the conflict,” said a report published by the UNICEF on July 28.
This situation has pushed many Syrians to make direct use of wastewater from the Euphrates River – which is expected to be the ground zero of the disease – both for daily consumption and to irrigate fields.
WASH Program
To deal with this situation, Riza said, “a closely coordinated water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and health response is underway, led by the Syrian Health Ministry, with support from WHO and UNICEF, working with a wide network of partners on the ground to respond.”
In the program, “early warning surveillance has been intensified in areas where the outbreak has been reported and other high-risk areas. … Four thousand rapid diagnostic tests have been delivered to support the work of rapid response teams deployed to investigate suspected cases. Intravenous fluids and oral rehydration salts have been also delivered to health facilities where confirmed patients are admitted.”
In addition to these urgent measures called for by the UN, local leaders and volunteers are working together to train health workers and local citizens in good hygiene practices and early recognition of symptoms.