War-torn Yemen to get cholera vaccines as death toll mounts.
A spokesman for the World Health Organization said Wednesday that it didn’t initially want to publicize last week’s decision because questions remain about when and how the doses could reach the neediest people in a country sliced up along front lines and grappling with a nearly-collapsed health system.
WHO said the 1 million doses for Yemen were approved on June 15 by the International Coordinating Group, which manages vaccine stocks and includes the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF, and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance along with WHO.
Berkley said the doses could help slow the spread of the disease as part of a broader strategy to contain it.
Above all, the response will require access and information campaigns in the hardest-hit areas.
For the vaccination campaign, the needs will include access to people in affected areas; "cold-chain facilities" because the vaccines require refrigeration; trained health workers; and "mobilization activities to prepare the communities to accept the vaccine," the agency said.
"Without treatment for malnutrition, more people will fall ill. And a child who survives cholera will be even further malnourished," he said.
Experts say that proper estimates of cholera cases are hard to come by in Yemen, and many cases could involve acute watery diarrhea, which has similar symptoms.
According to WHO, an estimated 1.4 billion people who live in countries where cholera is endemic are at risk of the disease each year.
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