Final Whole of Syria Cholera Operational Review Report Health and WASH Clusters WHO – UNICEF July 2023

Executive summary

The operational review (IAR) was conducted over two days, May 15th & 16th , 2023 in Amman, Jordan, under the leadership and facilitation of Whole of Syria (WoS) health and WASH clusters.

The review used a qualitative participatory approach guided by WHO guidance for after-action review.

The 3 Response areas prepared detailed accounts of the response to the outbreak which were used for discussions.

The meeting was attended by a total of 55 participants representing WoS Health, WASH, and RCCE coordinators and hub representatives from the Syria response areas of Damascus, Northwest Syria (NWS), and Northeast Syria (NES). In addition, technical officers from WHO and UNICEF, and partners from national and international organizations supporting cholera response operations also attended the meeting.

Participants reviewed the ongoing cholera outbreak, discussed actions taken to date, identified key challenges, and recommended actions moving forward. This report will therefore highlight what went well, not well, gaps/challenges during the last 8 months, and will identify corrective actions both in the short t and ahead of the summer season where a second wave is expected, and strategic actions that will contribute to eliminating cholera from Syria in the longer term.

Key recommended actions

Leadership and Multi-Sectoral Coordination.

1. Prepare the WoS Cholera Intra-Action Review (IAR) report to inform future actions, and strategies and to update July-December 2023 Cholera response plan.
2. Identify high-risk areas for preparedness, prevention, and response actions, and develop targeted prioritization activities plan accordingly.
3. Jointly revise Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), apply well-defined Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) indicators, and work on the integration of reporting across all hubs.
4. Organize a follow-up meeting with the global health and WASH cluster team on intersectoral collaboration, operational review report recommendations, and learning documentation.
5. Enhance governmental, local authorities, and local partners’ engagement in response operations.
6. Support and advocate for cross-hub resource prepositioning and mobilization.
7. Support conducting joint health, RCCE, and WASH coordination meetings and integrated response programming at hub levels.