It is yet another scourge that strikes two countries on their knees. Devastated by more than ten years of war, Syria is experiencing a outbreak of cholera, since the end of August, which has caused more than sixty deaths. This acute diarrheal infection has also reappeared in Lebanon, undermined by a very serious economic and financial crisis: Wednesday, October 12, the Lebanese Ministry of Health announced a death, a few days after the identification of the first patients. In question in these two neighboring countries, the hydraulic infrastructures are struggling, destroyed or dysfunctional.
In Syria, the eruption of the epidemic is attributed to the consumption of polluted water and the irrigation of fields by contaminated springs in the northeast, an agricultural breadbasket. Along with the neighboring region of Aleppo, it is one of the most affected areas. In six weeks of health crisis, more than thirteen thousand suspected cases of cholera have been recorded in the country by the World Health Organization (WHO). “Infections are one more emergency in the context of a serious humanitarian crisis”underlines Doctor Hossam Faysal, regional executive within the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, who has reinforced his action (prevention, funds, training, etc.) on the spot.
Resurgence linked to “population movements”
In Lebanon, cholera was diagnosed in rural areas bordering Syria. The resurgence of the disease, after almost thirty years of absence, is “probably due to population movements”, says Alissar Rady, head of the WHO technical team in Lebanon. Analyzes are underway to trace the origin of the raging strain. Travel between the two countries continues, although much lower than before 2011, the year the war in Syria began. If, for the time being, only about twenty cases have been identified, “Lebanon is very exposed to the risk of spreading cholera and acute diarrheal diseases”alert Mme Advice.
On both sides of the border, access to clean water is lacking in poor and rural areas. “In north-eastern Syria, there is also the factor of the drought of the Euphrates River for two years: this has forced local residents to resort to unsafe water sources”explains Doctor Faysal. “This region has already suffered a cholera crisis in 2009, the government then remained silent on the subject. In 2015, cases appeared in the North. Without water policy, there is a risk of cyclical resurgencewarns Doctor Fouad Fouad, professor of public health at the American University of Beirut. The current surge is occurring against a backdrop of economic collapse. »
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