Mozambique, vaccination campaign launched to extinguish cholera outbreaks in eight provinces: 720,000 people involved

ROME – L’World Health Organization (WHO) in Mozambique has launched a five-day mass vaccination campaign against cholera. The program is aimed at an audience of approximately 720,000 people distributed in eight provinces. The African country is also stepping up control measures against outbreaks. Currently, 5,260 cases of cholera and 37 deaths have been recorded since September 2022. Together with the vaccination campaign, the health authorities are monitoring the evolution of the disease and adopting a series of prevention measures.

The work of the WHO. L’World Health Organization has allocated $850,000 to address the emergency in Mozambique and has distributed medical supplies and medicines, where a sharp increase in cases has been recorded since autumn 2022. The highest number of infections have so far been reported in three of the country’s eleven provinces . The northern regions of Niassa, Sofala and Tete are the most affected. “The vaccination campaign is crucial in stemming the spread of cholera and saving lives,” said Dr. Severin von Xylander, WHO representative in Mozambique. “We are also working with local health institutions to strengthen key outbreak response measures and have deployed personnel to the worst-affected provinces to help authorities detect, prevent and stop the cholera outbreak.”

The vaccines. During the vaccination campaign, doctors use a mixed approach, administering medicines both in health centers and through mobile teams with door-to-door visits. But vaccines are not enough to stop the epidemic, so organizations are also carrying out water and sanitation monitoring work with the aim of preventing high-risk areas.

Drug stocks are short and demand is growing. Despite large-scale shortages of cholera vaccines and a corresponding increase in demand due to developing global outbreaks, WHO and its partners, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the Africa Centers for Disease Control, are deal with epidemic emergencies in most southern African countries. “The recent increase in outbreaks, and the risks they pose, underscores the importance of our work in funding global stockpiles of oral cholera vaccines, disease response campaigns, and access to the ability to obtain immunizations against other diseases such as cholera measles, yellow fever and polio,” explained Thabani Maphosa, administrator at Gavi.

The commitment of international organizations. Problems relating to the availability of vaccine stocks have prompted theInternational Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision (ICG) to temporarily discontinue the standard two-dose vaccination regimen in the countryside, using a single-dose approach instead. The ICG is an initiative to distribute vaccine supplies in emergency situations and is a partnership between the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Médecins Sans Frontières, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the WHO.

Cholera. Cholera is an acute, extremely virulent infection which can spread rapidly and cause dehydration with a consequent high mortality rate. However, the disease is easily treated with timely administration of an oral or intravenous rehydration solution.

Infant mortality. Cholera is endemic in Mozambique and, together with other diseases that lead to diarrhea and dehydration, is a leading cause of infant death. Outbreaks develop in the northern provinces of the country every year. Unfortunately, the transmission of the disease is also linked to poor hygiene and the difficulty of using drinking water. In recent years, extreme weather events such as droughts and floods are intensifying the risk of cholera spreading to many parts of Africa. In Mozambique, floods due to the current rainy season have affected more than 39,000 people, 76,000 homes, caused nine deaths and extensive damage to infrastructure, including roads, bridges and health centres.