The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF have delivered 1.1 million cholera vaccine doses to Chad to slow a fast-growing outbreak in the eastern provinces of Sila and Ouaddai, officials said Thursday.
Mahamat Hamit Ahmat, deputy secretary general at the Health and Prevention Ministry, said the doses will underpin a vaccination drive from Sept. 2–8 across five health districts in the east, aimed at containing transmission and preventing new cases.
Chad declared an epidemic on July 13. As of Wednesday, health authorities reported 75 deaths in the east. Globally this year, WHO has logged more than 390,000 cholera cases and over 4,300 deaths in 31 countries.
Health officials link the surge across parts of Africa—including Sudan, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo—to poor sanitation and climate-related flooding. Cholera is a bacterial infection contracted through contaminated water or food.