Zimbabwe’s fight against cholera receives a major boost through the delivery of Oral Cholera Vaccine
Zimbabwe is ramping up its fight against cholera by introducing the Cholera vaccine as another tool to prevent the further spread of the disease.
Minister of Health and Childcare, Hon. Dr Douglas Mombeshora receives the second batch of Oral Cholera Vaccines from UNICEF Representative, Dr. Tajudeen Oyewale and WHO Representative, Dr Jean-Marie Dangou at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport.
In the past week, UNICEF handed over up to 900 000 vaccines to the Government of Zimbabwe, through the Ministry of Health and Child Care. The vaccines are funded through GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance through the International Coordinating Group (ICG). The latest deliveries are part of an approves 2,303,248 doses that were approved by ICG for 195 wards in 29 districts across the country. 294,400 were delivered on the 25th of January 2024, while an additional 600,000 dose vials delivered on Saturday 27th January 2024.
UNICEF also recently distributed vital cholera response supplies worth $265,000. The supplies, which were procured through the Health Resilience Fund, a multi-donor pooled mechanism which is funded by the European Union and the Governments of Ireland, the United Kingdom, and GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance. This is in support of the overall national cholera response across pillars which include coordination, case management, Infection Prevention Control, WASH and Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE).
To date, Zimbabwe has recorded more than 20,000 suspected cholera and more than 400 confirmed and suspected deaths, since the first cases were recorded nearly a year ago. A multisectoral cholera response plan led by the Ministry of Health and Childcare in collaboration with other Government Ministries and supported by UNICEF, WHO and partners and donors, has been rolled out.
UNICEF’s cholera response is funded by multiple donors, including the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO); the Health Resilience Fund (HRF), a Zimbabwean pooled fund supported by the Governments of Ireland, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance; Japan; the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) and UNICEF Global Humanitarian Funding, and with in-kind support from private sector partners such as Alliance Media & JCDecaux for digital billboards, and Cash-In-Kind logistics support for commodities from United Parcel Service (UPS) Foundation.
