The cholera outbreak was discovered in the camp in early October and later confirmed through laboratory testing. There is no specialized treatment center for acute watery diarrhea in Al Hol, so it is important that as many people as possible are vaccinated as quickly as possible, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) argues.
“For the first time, we vaccinated people in Al-Hol camp from northwestern to northeastern Syria against cholera.Despite the escalation and security situation in the country, we were able to reach people and vaccinate them,” UNICEF Health and Nutrition Officer Khourchid Hasan told UN News.
Mr. Hassan credited the administration in Damascus with making the shipment possible, along with local authorities in northeastern Syria who facilitated the delivery of the vaccines to the gates of al-Hol, controlled by the Kurdish-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). ).
And despite access to Al Hol being blocked for three days last December after a threat was posted on social media that “there would be an attack on this camp and the release of the families (planned by ISIL)”, Mr Hasan They claimed that a vaccine would be impossible to roll out. halt.
“Everything is back to normal,” he said, adding that at least 14,000 people have been vaccinated against cholera so far. “The campaign is also running during the holiday season and our vaccination teams are doing their best to save lives and provide care to children and their carers.”
Vaccination teams work by walking through the camp’s tent shelters, shouting loudly to families and children urging them to get vaccinated. Once delivered, the vaccine prevents cholera, which can be fatal within hours if not treated properly.
Insert a photo of a woman in a jacket and a message in Arabic that vaccinations are free and safe.
Mr. Hassan emphasized that the campaign was able to get underway after the agency successfully transported 25,000 doses of vaccines from northwestern Syria through previous activity fronts. He also praised the awareness-raising work of UNICEF’s social behavior change and risk communication colleagues and partners, who engaged with community networks to support the oral cholera vaccine campaign and fostered trust among Al Hol residents.
Al Hol has for years housed ISIL fighters, refugees and the wives and children of refugees caught up in the war in Syria, which broke out in 2011 after the government brutally cracked down on peaceful protesters. The Democratic Forces (SDF) are Syrian and Iraqi citizens. The situation is serious and has been the subject of numerous warnings from top rights experts reporting to the Human Rights Council.
Foreigners and their children who have gone or been forced to travel to Syria to join ISIL fighters are housed in an annex to the camp divided into five areas. In December, the tent city’s population reached nearly 40,000.
Al Hol is actually two different camps. Al Hol, close to the Iraqi border, and Loy Camp, located on the Turkish border. Both are located in Al-Hasakeh Governorate. The male ISIL fighters are being held in a prison in the city of al-Hasakeh, about 45km away.
Cholera was first discovered in Syria in 2022, but the camp was not infected. “We vaccinated immediately (in 2022) as a preventive measure, but this time it started showing up in Al Hol camp,” UNICEF’s Hassan explained, citing lack of funding, poor nutrition, dirty water and poor hygiene as the current causes. . generation.
In addition to the UN Children’s Fund, several UN agencies have a presence in al-Hol, including the UN Agency for Sexual and Reproductive Affairs, UNFPA, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the NES NGO Forum Network operating in northeastern Syria.
“These (NGOs) are supported by local authorities, but the need, especially for secondary health services, is still very high,” Hasan emphasized. “There are three field hospitals in Al Hol Camp and one field hospital in Loj Camp, but there is still a huge need for medicines for non-communicable diseases and secondary health services. And now, because of the security situation, it is a big challenge to transport campers outside the camp to private hospitals such as Al Hasakeh or Qamishli.”
