According to the European Union, the causes of the outbreak in Syria include drought, economic decline, and the battered state of the country’s water infrastructure, which leaves 47% of the population relying on unsafe sources of water for their daily needs.
Cholera
is contracted by ingesting contaminated food or drinking water and causes
intestinal problems and dehydration that can be fatal unless treated quickly.
The key to fighting off the disease is good hygiene and clean water, yet in
some remote and undeveloped areas in Syria access to these is scarce, meaning
there is a real chance that the number of cases could soar.
In late September thousands of people across Syria started complaining of acute diarrhea, and the number of cases has grown steadily since.
According to the International Rescue Committee (IRC), part of the cholera outbreak was due to cowboy merchants near the Euphrates River running a water scam, whereby they sold unclean water from unregulated trucks and billed it as clean.
Syria’s problems with water treatment are far broader and largely due to the impact of the decade-long war: Nearly two-thirds of the country’s water plants, half of its pumping stations, and one-third of its water towers have been damaged because of the conflict.
The unofficial total is thought to be higher — and 35,000 suspected cases. The scale and speed of the outbreak has prompted the EU to act, providing €700,000 in humanitarian aid to contain the epidemic.
Cholera spreads into Lebanon
As the outbreak in Syria has grown, cholera has spread to neighboring Lebanon, which itself suffers from an economic collapse, an ongoing political crisis, and a plethora of other problems.
The transmission of the disease has been facilitated by the free movement between the two countries. Lebanon is home to a large number of Syrian refugees, estimated at 1.5 million, or one-fourth of the total population.
After cholera spread to Lebanon, the World Health Organization (WHO) assessed the risk of an outbreak there as high due to the shortage of drinking water and the country's fragile and strained health system. A lack of electricity and a significant shortage of fresh water in Lebanon have placed further pressure on the system.
The first cases in Lebanon were reported in early October. Speaking about them at the time, Lebanese Health Minister Firas Abiad said, “The common point between these cases is the majority of patients are displaced Syrians.” He added, “The absence of basic services, like safe water and sewage networks, in places where refugees gather constitutes a fertile ground for the epidemic too.”
According to official figures from Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health, as of Nov. 13 around 3,369 people have been infected and 18 have died in the first cholera outbreak in the country in more than 30 years.
UNICEF has taken rapid action to help with the effort in Lebanon, distributing 80,000 liters of fuel to water pumping and wastewater treatment stations in locations with confirmed and suspected cases, as well as procuring emergency medical supplies to treat cholera, such as oral rehydration salts and treatment kits.
The WHO has also gotten involved, helping to arrange a shipment of 600,000 doses of cholera vaccine. A vaccination campaign in Lebanon was launched on November 12, 2022 targeting both Lebanese and refugees.
The epidemic is spreading quickly in both countries and threatens to plunge Syria and Lebanon into more uncertainty, despair, and crisis. Unless the fundamental drivers are addressed and water treatment plants and facilities, especially in Syria, are improved, outbreaks will no doubt reoccur in the future with regularity.
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