APA-Yaoundé (Cameroon) – In 21 months, millions of people have benefited from reactive vaccination against cholera.
The cholera prevention campaign in the country has achieved significant results in recent months.
According to the Global Task Force on Cholera Control, meeting in Seoul, South Korea, from October 11-13, 2023, more than seven million people have benefited from reactive cholera vaccination in the Central African country from January 2022 to October 2023.
“The summary of data and lessons learned from cholera reactive vaccination campaigns since 2022, highlights that Cameroon has vaccinated 7,255,833 people out of the 7,626,691 doses of oral cholera vaccine (OCV), representing a coverage of 94, 64 percent,” said the statement seen by APA on Monday.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Cameroon has been experiencing a cholera epidemic since October 2021, with three active regions (Centre, Littoral and Sud-Ouest), 19 active health districts, 21,1822 cumulative cases reported and 506 deaths, representing a case-fatality rate of 2.39 percent.
The spread of the epidemic is facilitated by the insecurity that exists to a greater or lesser extent in four of the ten regions of the country, which has caused large numbers of people to move to large cities such as Yaoundé and Douala.
Living in makeshift shelters, in an unhygienic environment and in overcrowded conditions, they are confronted with risk factors for waterborne diseases such as cholera: overcrowding, inadequate hygiene and sanitation, insufficient drinking water supplies, insufficient latrines in certain localities, etc., resulting in significant cases of contamination.
The epicentre is the capital, Yaoundé, which benefited from a cholera vaccination campaign in August 2023 with the support of WHO, UNICEF, GAVI…
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