Please refer to the attached file.
FAST FACTS
- As of August 30, Minawao Refugee Camp’s Cholera Treatment Unit had recorded 304 admissions and four deaths. Nationally, there have been 2,075 cases and 53 deaths across 13 health districts.
- Minawao Camp hosts approximately 81,000 refugees and is operating at 324% of intended capacity.
- Multiple transmission chains are suspected within the camp, increasing the risk of rapid spread among vulnerable populations.
OUR RESPONSE
- International Medical Corps is coordinating with health authorities, UN agencies, camp management and humanitarian partners to support a harmonized response.
- We are implementing cholera prevention and response activities focused on outbreak containment, case management and community education, and strengthening treatment capacity through additional staff, essential medicines and cholera supplies.
- We also are strengthening surveillance, community alert systems and risk communication to support early detection and treatment while scaling up risk communication, hygiene promotion, infection prevention, disinfection, and emergency activities involving water, sanitation and hygiene.
Through coordinated active case-finding and community surveillance, emergency teams have so far reached 17,171 households, referred 53 suspected cholera cases and disinfected 2,256 households, 15 places of worship, two health posts and 11 other gathering locations. Responders also have conducted 371 sensitization sessions that reached 67,561 people. On August 30, health workers launched a five-day oral cholera vaccination campaign targeting all Minawao Refugee Camp residents.
International Medical Corps also continues to support medical care, case management and IPC measures at the Cholera Treatment Unit. Workers are setting up temporary treatment tents to handle the rapid increase in cases, which has placed severe pressure on existing bed capacity. Though staff members are working to procure 45 additional cholera beds to expand treatment capacity to 65 beds, the facility remains critically overwhelmed. With 148 patients currently under observation against a baseline 28-bed capacity, epidemiological projections indicate that responders urgently need approximately 100 additional treatment beds.