WHO helps Sulaymaniyah respond to Cholera outbreak
WHO workers prepare the consignment of medical supplies to deliver it to the Ministry of Health in Kurdistan region. Photo: WHO
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The World Health Organization (WHO) dispatched an urgent consignment of medicines and medical supplies, on Monday, to Sulaymaniyah governorate in Kurdistan region to help the regional Ministry of Health to respond to the sudden cholera outbreak in the region, according to a press statement issued by the WHO.
The consignment consisted of four pallets of medicines and medical supplies, including infusion sets, antibiotics and intravenous fluid to cover the needs of a population of approximately five thousand people for a duration of three months, according to the statement of the WHO.
The WHO statement mentioned that the Minister of Health in Kurdistan Regional Government, Saman Hussein Barznji, attended the handover and expressed concern over the sudden increase in acute diarrhea cases in Sulaymaniyah and a few other Iraqi governorates.
“13 Cholera cases were confirmed by the laboratory among which 10 are in Sulaymaniyah. We are following the situation closely and have scaled up surveillance, preparedness and response activities, and hope to be able to contain the outbreak in the coming weeks in close collaboration with WHO and other partners,” Barznji said in a statement quoted by the WHO.
The Ministry of Health in Kurdistan region is working with the Central Public Health Laboratory (CPHL) and have requested support to test 56 additional samples taken from Sulaymaniyah, the WHO confirmed in its statement.
According to the WHO, 13 cholera cases from Sulaymaniyah, Kirkuk, and Muthanna, were confirmed by the CPHL until June 20, 2022.