Children gather during the OCV vaccination campaign in Qolayaat, Akkar. Photo credit: WHO Lebanon23 UN Interagency Award for noncommunicable diseases prevention and control and mental health. Photo credit MOPH Lebanon. 10 September 2024, Beirut, Lebanon – On 19 August, the Ministry of Public Health in Lebanon announced the launch of a preemptive oral cholera vaccination (OCV) campaign with the aim of preventing potential cholera outbreaks in high-risk areas. The campaign targets 350 000 individuals aged one year and above residing in high-risk areas in 5 out of Lebanon’s 8 governorates. Expected to conclude mid-September, the campaign provides protection against cholera for people living in areas where there is limited access to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities, or in close proximity to neighbouring Syria where high movement flows between the 2 countries exacerbate the risk of cross-border disease spread. In Mount Lebanon, Tripoli, Bekaa, Baalbeck and Akkar, 130 field...