Cholera is an infectious disease that causes severe watery diarrhea, which can lead to dehydration and even death if untreated. It is caused by eating food or contaminated drinking water. The proposed intervention aims to reduce occurrence and to minimize morbidity and mortality of cholera. The current upsurge of cholera cases is attributed to prevalence of risk factors including disruption of public health and WASH services amidst increasingly collapsing basic services, displacement, and inadequate sanitation conditions. The health condition of this vulnerable population is already compromised by the deteriorating situation, increasing their susceptibility to cholera infection and associated complications contributing to higher case fatality rate.
Brief Description
The Yemen’s Ministry of Public Health and Population (MoPHP) confirmed a cholera outbreak in Aden Governorate in October 2016. Subsequently, the outbreak spread to close to 165 districts in 16 Governorates by the end of December 2016. The trend of the cholera outbreak and case-fatality rate then declined during the period January to March, with the number of districts reporting suspected cholera cases dropping to 25. The decline in the epidemic curve could be partly attributed to the health and WASH interventions. A total of 24,504 suspected cases, including 143 associated deaths (with a case-fatality rate of 0.44%) were reported by the end of March 2017. The resurgence of the outbreak during the last week of April resulted in a cumulative of 254,871 suspected cases, with 1,439 associated deaths (0.6% CFR) by 28 June, rapidly spreading to 286 districts in 20 governorates. With the rapid spread, the cumulative number of cases during the seven weeks period is six times more than those reported over a period of the first months in the October 2016 outbreak. The outbreak is spreading against the backdrop of a major humanitarian crisis. The current upsurge of cholera cases is attributed to prevalence of risk factors including disruption of public health and WASH services amidst increasingly collapsing basic services, displacement, and inadequate sanitation conditions. Less than 45 per cent of all health facilities are fully functional and more than 8 million people lack access to safe drinking water and sanitation. The situation is further aggravated by high prevalence of severe food insecurity and malnutrition. The health condition of this vulnerable population is already compromised by the deteriorating situation, increasing their susceptibility to cholera infection and associated complications contributing to higher case fatality rate. Two years of conflict, compounded by an economic decline have devastated livelihoods, depleted safety nets, weakened social service delivery, and ability to access social services. Health and WASH clusters immediately mobilized partners to scale up response. Two emergency operations centres have been established in Aden and Sana’a to oversee surveillance activities and coordinate the response. As of 28 June, 2,351 CTC beds have been established to treat severe cases. Additionally, 311 community-level Oral Rehydration Points (ORPs) were opened in Sana’a and other affected governorates to treat moderate and mild cases, with a referral system of severe cases to the CTCs. Over 5 million people benefitted from chlorinated water supplies (at system and household levels), more than 2.5 million people benefitted from water storage disinfection (both at community and household levels). Almost 2 million people were reached with key cholera messages, through household, community and mass media campaigns. Water, sanitation and hygiene related activities took place in 165 districts in 18 governorates. Partners are re-programming resources to respond to the outbreak. Despite these, the spread of the outbreak continues to outpace ongoing response efforts, and additional resources are required to scale up interventions to control the outbreak and prevent further spread. This proposed intervention will focus in Al-Dhale district of Al- Dhale’e Governorate as this district in need for urgent intervention. The proposed intervention aims to reduce occurrence and to minimize morbidity and mortality of cholera and AWD through effective prevention and timely response.
xxx will implement the following activities in this proposed project:
- Establish 1 diarrhea treatment centers (DTCs) for management of severe
- Train health workers on case definition, diagnosis and management
- Case management for different types of treatment and ensure infection prevention and control measures by DTC staff and cholera rapid response
- Conduct 120 awareness sessions on cholera
- Conduct field monitoring
The project will be implemented in Al-Dhale district of Al-Dhale’e Governorate
The project will target 6300 individuals as direct beneficiaries (1234 men, 1285 women, 1852 boys and 1929 girls) as well as the catchment population of district (213,558 individuals) as indirect beneficiaries who will benefit from the establishment of the DTC.
All activities will be implemented according to cholera integrated response plan issued by health cluster.
Expected Result
Decreased the case fatality among populations most vulnerable to AWD/cholera Al- Dhale district of Al-Dhale’e Gov.
- 1 Diarrhoea treatment centre (DTC)
- 3300 patients provided with healthcare through DTC staff and cholera rapid response
- 13 health workers trained on case definition, diagnosis and management
- 120 awareness sessions
- 3000 individuals benefited from the awareness
