Case study: Public Health ERU deployment for cholera in Comoros

Cholera is not endemic to Comoros. Following the arrival of sick passengers at the end of January 2024 and laboratory confirmation, the Comoros Ministry of Health declared a cholera epidemic on 2 February 2024, for the first time in nearly 17 years. Cases quickly spread to all three islands, with Nzwani (Anjouan) becoming the hotspot in April. As of 28 July 2024, 10,342 cumulative cases were reported, 88% of which were on the island of Nzwani.

A public health (PH) ERU consisting of an Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) module and a Community-Based Surveillance (CBS) module was deployed, as part of IFRC support to the Comoros Red Crescent. This was led by French Red Cross with support from Canadian Red Cross, Norwegian Red Cross and German Red Cross. This was the first time the two modules were deployed, outside of a pilot community-based surveillance deployment, and jointly in a Public Health ERU.