Israeli medical team works to treat cholera in Zambia
Following a request by the Zambian government, a team of highly qualified medical professionals arrived last week to assess the situation and see what can be done to help.
By JPOST.COM STAFFUpdated: JANUARY 18, 2018 04:18Medical professionals from Sheba Medical Center and Zambia work together to treat a child as part of their joint efforts to combat the current African Cholera outbreak(photo credit: Courtesy)
The developed world might think cholera is a disease of the past, but in Africa the epidemic continues to rage on.The infectious and deadly disease affects millions in sub-Saharan Africa.According to Zambian Health Minister Chitalu Chilufya, 3,260 people in his country alone have been infected since the outbreak began last October, and more than 74 have died.Following a request by the Zambian government to ZipBCC – a civilian firm with close ties to Sheba Medical Center – Prof. Elhanan Bar-On, director of the Tel Hashomer facility’s new Israel Center for Disaster Medicine and Humanitarian Response, arrived on the scene last week with a team of highly qualified medical professionals to assess the situation and see what can be done to help.“One week ago I arrived here with Prof. Eli Schwartz, who is the head of Tropical Disease Institute in Sheba, and with an expert water engineer, to perform a needs assessment,” Bar-On said in a video posted on The Jerusalem Post website last week.“Following our assessment and after meeting with the minister of health in Zambia and his team, we decided to deploy a medical team here.”The delegation includes two physicians, two nurses and a lab technician who are working together in the central treatment center for cholera that was set up in the Zambia’s national stadium in Lusaka.“The Israeli team is working shoulder- to-shoulder with the local health professionals in order to try eradicate this terrible disease,” Bar-On explained. In addition to treating patients, the team has established a badly needed laboratory in order to diagnose the disease.“The last few days have seen a decrease in the number of new cholera cases recorded, possibly signifying the end of the current outbreak.However, without care of the water and sewage infrastructure, repeated outbreaks are inevitable,” Bar-On warned.
Sheba has made disaster medicine and humanitarian aid in developing countries a priority, in keeping with the Jewish belief in tikkun olam (repairing the world) and the hospital’s long history of humanitarian aid projects, such as the center established six months ago. Prof. Bar-On believes such projects can also help enhance the reputation of Israeli medical care worldwide.This article was written in cooperation with Sheba Medical Center.
