A Médecins Sans Frontières worker treats cases of Cholera in Zimbabwe. MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES (MSF)
Although oral cholera vaccines have been available since the 1980s, it wasn’t until very recently that the World Health Organization (WHO) considered using them as a means to control large, active cholera outbreaks. Following a much-debated and delayed vaccination trial in Haiti—which began last April , some 6 months after the cholera outbreak started—the government of Guinea has partnered with the global charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), also known as Doctors Without Borders, to vaccinate more than 100,000 people—making it the first time an oral cholera vaccine is used in Africa to control an active epidemic.
“Until very recently, no one was using this as an extra tool to control cholera,” Iza Ciglenecki, the project manager for diarrheal diseases at MSF who led the effort ...
