Nepali will soon launch a cholera vaccination drive after a deadly outbreak that started early last month killed at least six people and affected over a thousand so far in several villages. The World Health Organization (WHO) has confirmed to provide over 250,000 oral vaccines to mitigate the situation. 

The outbreak--first reported in the first week of October--spread over at least two districts of Lumbini province, killing six people, including three children, and hospitalizing hundreds of people. Initial efforts by health authorities failed to contain the disease, which later spread to nearby villages. 

The Ministry of Health and Population has now decided to launch a vaccination campaign in the affected villages. 

In a statement on Sunday, the ministry said, “The World Health Organisation’s International Coordinating Group (ICG) Cholera Secretariat has informed us that our effort to get the oral cholera vaccine from the global stockpile has succeeded.” 

The government will soon receive 252,363 doses of oral cholera vaccine for the disease-hit areas and a vaccination program will be launched, an official of the health ministry confirmed. 

“Vaccination is needed in the disease-hit areas to contain a further spread,” Bikash Devkota, the secretary for Provincial Ministry of Health and Population, was quoted as saying by the Kathmandu Post. If we do not launch a vaccination drive, he added, the deadly disease could remain in society as chronic a problem.

Nepal, which has poor public health infrastructure, often struggle to contain contagious disease like cholera. The primary reason is the lack of safe drinking water and a proper sanitation system. 

Aid agencies operating in the country along with health authorities will carry out the vaccination drive. In 2014, during one such outbreak, the government had carried out a ring vaccination drive in the affected areas with the help of aid organizations. 

(SAM)