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The campaign began in North Kivu, in the country's difficult east, where armed groups dominate large areas, and the most serious Ebola epidemic in the DRC is still raging, killing over 1,000 people to date.
The cholera campaign will be implemented by the DRC Ministry of Health with the support of the World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners, and funded by Gavi, the Alliance for Immunization. A total of 835,183 people in the Binza, Goma, Kayina, Karisimbi, Kibirizi, Kirotshe and Rutshuru areas will be vaccinated by Saturday's deadline.
A first dose will be administered and if all goes well, the second dose will be deployed at a later stage to provide complete protection. More than 10,000 cholera cases have been reported in the country since January 2019, resulting in more than 240 deaths. In addition, more than 80,000 suspected cases of measles have resulted in more than 1,400 deaths so far this year, while one case of circulating poliovirus derived from type 2 vaccine has been reported in the province. Kasai, earlier this month.
"The DRC is facing an unprecedented combination of deadly outbreaks," said Dr. Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, Vaccine Alliance. "While the Ebola outbreak continues to cause indescribable misery in the East, measles and cholera outbreaks are making thousands of victims across the country."
That's why we're stepping up our response, "he said," with measles immunization underway in health zones affected by measles outbreaks, as well as our ongoing support for Ebola vaccinations in the DRC and in neighboring countries. We can not allow this unnecessary suffering to continue.
Campaign is a "massive contribution" – WHO
"Cholera is a preventable disease. Vaccinating people at risk in the most vulnerable health zones of North Kivu against cholera is a major contribution and will protect hundreds of thousands of people against the disease and increase the level of immunity of the population in these areas "said Dr. Deo Nshimirimana, acting representative of WHO DRC.
The doses of cholera vaccine were taken from the global stock of cholera vaccines, entirely funded by Gavi. Gavi also supports the operational costs of the campaign.
Since the launch of the stock in 2013, millions of doses have helped fight epidemics worldwide. In the fifteen years between 1997 and 2012, 1.5 million doses of oral cholera vaccine have been used worldwide. In 2018 alone, the stock provided 17 million doses to 22 different countries.
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