WHO to train Health Professionals in Nigeria on integration of oral cholera vaccine
HEALTHDIGEST– The World Health Organisation says it will conduct a hybrid training in Abuja from April 25 to 29 for health professionals emphasizing the importance of integrating the Oral Cholera Vaccine (OCV) as an option.
WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, said in a statement, that the vaccine would help for emergency and preventive cholera outbreaks in endemic countries.
According to her, the training which aligns with Ending Cholera: A Global Road Map to 2030, is intended for individuals that will be involved in the planning and implementation of OCV campaigns.
She said that the road map launched in 2017 targeted a 90 per cent reduction in cholera deaths by 2030 and the elimination of cholera in at least 20 countries out of the 47 currently affected.
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“The increasing use of the vaccines will complete other interventions, including water, sanitation and hygiene, for prevention and control of cholera outbreaks. This is additional achievement towards vaccine equity and universal health coverage,” she added.
Moeti said that the capacity-building workshop would strengthen the health systems in implementing high-quality OCV activities and that the roadmap priority for countries is to plan OCV campaigns in targeted cholera hotspots as a component of their National Cholera Control Plan with some challenges.
Moeti further explained that the 2021 annual Global Task Force on Cholera Control (GTFCC) stakeholders meeting identified poor quality reactive and preventive OCV campaign requests.
Others, she noted, are lack of OCV use in outbreak response in some settings, and inadequate monitoring and evaluation of OCV campaigns were needed to be addressed.
She also said the workshop targeting the Anglophone Cholera Priority countries is aimed to strengthen the capacities of health professionals from ministries of health, key in-country partners and independent individuals.
