[Management of a cholera epidemic by a humanitarian organization]

Far from disappearing with modern progress, cholera outbreaks have never been more common than in the last decade. Because of its close relationship with poverty, malnutrition, poor access to health care, warfare, and sometimes natural disaster, cholera is a major priority for action by doctors from humanitarian organization. In this article a brief overview about cholera is followed by an account of one non-governmental organization's approach to management of a cholera outbreak. The author describe the circumstances surrounding the alert and the fact-finding mission focused on documenting the presence of an epidemic, measuring its magnitude, and predicting its outcome. The next phase of management involved response planning with development of a control strategy and raising money for intervention, which is often difficult for epidemics not reported in the media. The control modalities were then deployed in the field including assisting patient management, preventing transmission, training personnel, supervising activities, coordinating tasks performed by different actors, and finally program evaluation. This experience shows that successful cholera management programs can be conducted in a professional manner by teams composed essentially of volunteers under the supervision of a knowledgeable staff able to adapt general control techniques to the specific conditions encountered in the field.