London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Come listen to a joint seminar of the LSHTM Health in Humanitarian Crises Centre and the LSHTM Vaccine Centre.

Cholera vaccination in humanitarian crises:  the socio-politics of vaccine decision-making among internally displaced persons in South Sudan

Abstract: In 2010, the World Health Organization recommended that oral cholera vaccination (OCV) be used in conjunction with other cholera prevention and control measures. An OCV stockpile was created to improve access to the vaccines in situations of outbreaks, humanitarian emergencies and other high risk settings. Four years later, following the eruption of a violent political crisis that has left more than 50,000 people dead and another 2.5million displaced, OCV campaigns were conducted in United Nations Protection of Civilian (PoC) areas across South Sudan. This was the first use of the OCV stockpile in a humanitarian crisis. This seminar presents some findings from a qualitative study of the socio-political dimensions of cholera and OCV campaigns among internally displaced Nuer people living in PoC areas in Juba, South Sudan, and their relation to perceptions of health, aid provision, cholera risk and vaccination decisions.

Biography: Dorothy Peprah is a PhD student at LSHTM. Before beginning her PhD, she worked on public health interventions among conflict-affected populations in the NGO sector.

External visitors will be greeted at the LSHTM reception and directed to the seminar room shortly before the talk begins.