WHO, UNICEF To Provide Northwestern Syria With 1.7Mln Vaccines Against Cholera

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) have launched a 10-day cholera vaccination campaign in the earthquake-hit areas of northwestern Syria in cooperation with a local and global vaccination facilities

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 08th March, 2023) The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) have launched a 10-day cholera vaccination campaign in the earthquake-hit areas of northwestern Syria in cooperation with a local and global vaccination facilities.

"The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), in coordination with health authorities, the Syria Immunization Group (SIG), and Gavi - the Vaccine Alliance, kicked off a cholera vaccination campaign in earthquake-hit areas of northwest Syria. During the campaign, 1.7 million doses of cholera vaccine will be used to protect Syrians above one year of age," WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean said in a statement.

The statement added that 1,400 medical teams would vaccinate people at home, in schools, as well as in camps for displaced persons for 10 days.

Since last September, when the cholera outbreak was first announced in Syria, more than 50,000 suspected cholera cases have been registered in the Idlib and Aleppo regions, the statement noted.

In February, two earthquakes of magnitudes 7.7 and 7.6 hit the southeastern regions of Turkey at a nine-hour interval. The underground shocks followed by hundreds of aftershocks were felt in 11 Turkish provinces and in the neighboring countries, with Syria being affected the most.