Oral cholera vaccine (OCV) study project in Zanzibar
28 February - 1 March 2012, Zanzibar
The "Pre-emptive Use of Cholera Vaccine in Vulnerable Populations" lead by IVR and funded by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was initiated in October 2006 and was concluded by a workshop meeting in February 2012. This project has been run with the collaboration of the WHO Cholera Task Force.
The objectives of the project have focused on:
- establishing a small stock of cholera vaccine for use in high risk population;
- developing the tools required for mass vaccination campaigns using cholera vaccines in countries/regions with endemic disease that has the potential for epidemics;
- determining the financial and logistic feasibility of oral cholera vaccines for pre-emptive use in countries with endemic diseases;
- developing and conducting effectiveness studies in selected cholera endemic scenarios, and
- translating the results of the effectiveness studies into policy.
This interactive workshop among the different collaborators: MoHSW Zanzibar, IVI, Swiss TPH and local NGOs was the closing meeting to discuss results and translation of these results into future recommendations for Zanzibar and other African countries.
Overall objectives of the workshop were:
- to discuss the results of the overall OCV project from Zanzibar.
- to discuss the translation of study results for future policy recommendations for Zanzibar.
- to discuss lessons learned from other African countries with a view to possible policy setting.
At the end of the workshop, the following were the expected outcomes:
- to share results of the different project components in order to come to a common understanding of potential policy implications.
- to formulate future strategies to scale up of OCV mass vaccination in Zanzibar for future policy recommendations.
- to formulate public announcements from study results for general public use, with emphasis on Africa.