Attachments
SITUATION ANALYSIS
Description of the disaster
On 10 September, the Syrian Ministry of Health (MoH) declared an outbreak of cholera in Aleppo Governorate following 15 confirmed laboratory cases, including one death. On 17 September, the Syrian MoH held a coordination meeting with UN agencies and INGOs to share updates on the situation. During the meeting, the MoH presented the three priorities for the proposed operational response plan: WASH, community awareness raising, and medical response in all health directorates.
Based on a rapid assessment conducted by health authorities and partners, the source of the outbreak was believed to be linked to people drinking unsafe water from the Euphrates River and using contaminated water to irrigate crops, resulting in food contamination. This outbreak was an indicator of severe shortages of water throughout Syria, as access to safe drinking water is a significant challenge in the conflict-affected country.
On the 6th of February, a 7.8 degrees magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey near Syria’s northern border. The US Geological Survey said the earthquake was centred about 33 km (20 miles) from Gaziantep, a major city and provincial capital. Another big earthquake was felt on the same day, largely in the same affected areas. The earthquake heightened the risk of waterborne diseases, such as cholera, due to overcrowding in emergency shelters, extensive damage to water and sanitation infrastructure, and damage and disruption to cholera treatment infrastructure.
Between 25 August and 8 April, 111,084 suspected cholera cases have been reported from all 14 governorates, including 104 associated deaths to date at a case fatality rate of 0.09%. The most affected governorates were Idleb (36,543 cases, 32.9%), Aleppo (29,159 cases, 26.2%), Deir Ez-Zor (20,673 cases, 18.6%), and Ar-Raqqa (19,823 cases, 17.8%).
All these factors contributed to the deterioration of the water and sanitation hygiene-related practices which played an important role in the spread of cholera in the areas affected the most by these dire conditions.