Cholera continues to sweep through Syria and Lebanon at an
alarming pace, leaving thousands sick and hundreds dead. The number of cases of
the bacterial disease in both countries is steadily increasing, with
UNICEF estimating the total in Syria at 35,569 while the Ministry of
Public Health puts that in Lebanon at 3,369.
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.
