The outbreak of the cholera and viral hepatitis epidemic in Lebanon, especially in the north, has left a shadow of concern among citizens, committed to tracing the number of infections officially registered by the Ministry of Health and those suspicious of those infections that are steadily increasing and are learning the steps to take to prevent it. While the Lebanese unanimously agree that the transmission of cholera to Lebanon came from Syria as a result of the great outbreak, they add other reasons, including those related to crumbling infrastructure, including cuts in electricity and water and lack of maintenance of the sewer networks, which sometimes leads to the contamination of domestic water with sewage and opens the door to the possibility of the emergence of viruses and other epidemics.
Medical sources told “Nidaa Al-Watan” that there have been no recorded cases of injuries in Sidon and its region so far, and said that Sidon municipality will organize a crisis and disaster risk management cell in the Federation of Municipalities. by Saida Al-Zahrani, in collaboration with the NGO Association and the Health Committee in “Sidon Face”, a meeting with the member of the parliamentary health committee, the deputy Dr. Abdul Rahman Al-Bizri (specialist in microbial diseases) to discuss ways to tackle the epidemic and limit its spread in the event of an outbreak.
Al-Bizri, who confirmed the presence of confirmed cases of cholera, together with suspected cases that are being traced, accompanied by the Director of the emergency and crisis cell in the Union of Sidon Municipalities – Al-Zahrani, Eng. Mustafa Hijazi, inspected the wastewater treatment center in Siniq, where he was received by the head of the central administration department, Dr. Hussein Al-Ghoul and Eng. Deeb Mitri, the project manager and head of the sanitation department of the North Litani Foundation, Munira Haidar, explained the difficulties and problems faced by the center and the sewer system of the city and its surroundings, and the mechanism to address them.
Al-Bizri considered that the circumstances that dictated this visit are linked primarily to the situation of the city of Sidon and its region, which suffers from the problem of sewage and sea water pollution, and the impossibility to operate the treatment center and pumping centers due to the loss of the ability to carry out maintenance work and replacement of some parts and mechanisms that have expired, in addition to the power failure on the treatment center and pumping stations, stressing that the risk of epidemics entering Lebanon, including the cholera epidemic that we have witnessed in the Bekaa and in the North, is linked to the safety and effectiveness of infrastructures, in particular waste water, usable water, energy electricity and waste treatment and collection.
The secretary of the “National Institutions Caucus” in the Sidon region, Majed Hamto, announced the willingness of the assembly to play the required role in protecting society from epidemics and focuses on three axes: raising awareness, defining its capacity to act and participating in any emergency plan in the city, and putting health centers into service and decommissioning.
Field fears
But the biggest fear lies in the infiltration of cholera into Palestinian camps, particularly UNRWA schools, where students are overcrowded in classrooms, water is scarce and toilets are not cleaned, which requires a proactive plan to avoid drink from the bitter cup. The secretary of the “Palestinian People’s Committees” in the camps of Lebanon, engineer Abdel Moneim Awad, told “Nidaa Al-Watan”: “So far no cholera infection has been recorded in all Palestinian camps in Lebanon, and hopefully no infection will be registered and the committees announced the medical alert through the “Health Committee”, which was made up of doctors and nurses and took the lead, held meetings and communicated with the Palestinian Red Crescent to develop a proactive plan to avoid the spread of this epidemic. At the moment we are focusing on raising awareness, especially towards women, children and school students, and we have asked the Director of Education of UNRWA, Mirna Shamma, to address the problem of scarcity of ‘water and to pay attention to the cleanliness of the toilets ”.
On the other hand, the head of the UNRWA health department in Lebanon, Dr. Abdel Hakim Shana’a, assured through “Nida Al-Watan” that UNRWA has developed an integrated plan between the various departments to protect the camps. the epidemic, including carrying out awareness campaigns on social media and posting short videos about the disease, its causes and prevention, confirming that cholera is a bacterium and can be cured and its medicines are available and inviting people of camps to take precautions, the most important of which is personal hygiene and hand washing before and after eating and after entering the bathroom. Shana’a explained that the health program works to provide water to all schools, ensure it is not contaminated, and increase the number of workers who regularly take care of hygiene, especially sanitation, and report any illness. and transfer it to the clinic for examination by the specialist doctor, while the technical office examines the artesian wells to make sure they are free of germs, introducing “chlorine” and monitoring it regularly, removing waste daily, spraying pesticides and placing materials to prevent the spread of bacteria in places and containers for waste collection.As for the health department, it is ready to receive any case and within the clinics there are medicines, including for diarrhea, dehydration and infections, which are free , or transfer any sick case to hospital As determined by the Lebanese Ministry of Health.
