Cholera : 842,000 vaccines to fight the disease in four regions

As the cholera epidemic in Cameroon persists, the  government has decided  to break the contamination chain through vaccination, aside other measures. 

A special vaccination campaign against cholera will take place in the Littoral Region, South West, South and Littoral Regions from April 8-12.

A total of 842,000 cholera vaccines will be administered in the affected regions during the campaign. The cholera vaccines are a donation from the World Health Organization (WHO).

The campaign is particularly aimed at reducing the contaminations in the South West Region where close to 500 cases, and over 40 deaths have been recorded within the last one week.

Cholera  has killed over 60 people in Cameroon since its outbreak in October. A total of over 400 cases and 12 deaths were recently  recorded in the Fako Division in only 72 hours. From March 21-24, 260 new cases were reported in the country ; 209 in the South-West (18 in Buea, 143 in Limbe, 1 in Kumba South, 46 in Tiko, 1 in Muyuka), 46 in the Littoral, 2 in the Centre, and 3 in the North region. No new cases have been reported in the South and Far North for last  than 21 days.

Since last week, hospitals in Limbe, Tiko and Buea have reportedly been overwhelmed with hundreds of patients being treated for cholera. Corridors and verandas have had to transformed into make shift wards to accommodate more patients.

Public Public Health officials say the vaccination which targets only the affected areas is intended to break the contamination chain in these areas.

On March 27, Cameroon’s Public Health Minister said in a tweet that a team of health experts from the Public Health Ministry had visited the South West Region to assess and strengthen response to the outbreak.

In another tweet, he announced that the incident management system had been reinforced at the central level and in the affected  regions to ensure that proper measures , including vaccination are implemented in the affected regions.

Many Cameroonians hope infections will soon reduce so that live can go back to normal in the regions that are currently on high alert for new cholera cases.

Kathy Neba Sina