Syria: UN teams support cholera vaccination in northeastern camps
The cholera outbreak was detected in the camp in early October and later confirmed by laboratory tests. As Al Hol does not have a specialist treatment center for acute diarrhoea, it is important that as many people are vaccinated as quickly as possible, the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEFemphasize.
“For the first time, we received cholera vaccines from northwest Syria to the northeast to vaccinate people in Al Hol campeven [despite] security situation and escalation in the country, but we have managed to reach the people and vaccinate them,” said UNICEF health and nutrition officer Khourchid Hasan speak UN News.
Mr. Hasan credited the caretaker administration in Damascus for making the transport possible, along with local authorities in northeastern Syria who facilitated the delivery of the vaccines to Al gate Hol, which is controlled by the Kurdish-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). ).
Status ‘back to normal’
And despite threats published on social networks last December “that there would be an attack on this camp and [that ISIL planned on] release their families” causing access to Al Hol to be closed for three days, Mr. Hasan stressed that the vaccine rollout will not stop.
“Everything is back to normal,” he said, adding that so far, at least 14,000 people have been vaccinated against cholera: “The campaign is going on even during the holidays and vaccination teams are doing a great job of saving lives. treating children and their caregivers.”
Vaccination teams work by walking through camp shelters with loudspeakers urging families to bring themselves and their children to receive doses. Once administered, the vaccine protects against cholera, which can be fatal within hours if not treated properly.
Mr. Hasan emphasized that the operation was able to resume after the agency successfully transported 25,000 vaccine doses from northwestern Syria across previously active front lines. He also praised the awareness-raising work of UNICEF’s social behavior change and risk communication colleagues and partners, who have engaged with community networks to support the vaccine campaign. oral cholera and strengthen the faith of the people of Al Hol.
For years, Al Hol has been home to the wives and children of ISIL fighters, displaced persons and refugees caught up in the war in Syria, which erupted in the wake of the Government’s deadly crackdown on those peaceful protest in 2011.
Conditions remain harsh
The majority of those detained there by the Kurdish-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are Syrian and Iraqi nationals. The conditions are harsh and have been the subject of much coverage warning Reported to by leading rights experts Human Rights Council.
Foreign nationals who arrived or were forced to travel to Syria to join ISIL fighters and their children were detained in an annex of the camp, divided into five zones. In December, the tent settlement’s population was nearly 40,000 people.
Al Hol is in fact two different camps: Al Hol, near the Iraqi border, and Roj camp, located on the border with Turkïye; both are in Al-Hasakeh province. The male ISIL fighters were held in a prison in the city of Al-Hasakeh about 45 kilometers away.
Cholera was first detected in Syria in 2022 but the camp escaped infection. “We vaccinated immediately (in 2022) as a preventative measure, but this time it appeared and started in Al Hol camp,” UNICEF’s Mr. Hasan explained, adding The Times cited funding shortfalls, poor nutrition, dirty water and poor sanitation as contributing factors to the current situation. outbreak.
On-site agent
Several United Nations agencies have a presence in Al Hol in addition to the United Nations Children’s Fund, including the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPAWorld Health Organization (WHO) and the NGO Forum NES network operating in northeastern Syria.
“Those things [NGOs] supported by local authorities, but the demand is still very high, especially secondary health care,” Mr. Hasan emphasized.
“There are three field hospitals in Al Hol camp and one field hospital in Roj camp, but the need for drugs to treat non-communicable diseases and secondary health care is still great. And now, because of the security situation, referring people from camps outside the camp to private hospitals, such as in Al-Hasakeh or Qamishli is a big challenge.”
