When Cyclone Kenneth made landfall on 24 April 2019, it hit three of the four main islands in the Union of Comoros, affecting more than 43% of the country's total population of over 850000.An unprecedented cyclone in scope and scale, the devastation it caused led to six people’s death, injuries to 182 people, and the displacement of 11969individuals.The disaster triggered an international response that saw an immediate launching of emergency relief efforts that focused on rescue operations,food, safe drinking water, and emergency shelters.

Within days of Cyclone Kenneth’s landfall, WHO deployed a response team from the Organization’s three levels to support Government’s response. In close coordination with representatives from the Government of Comoros and humanitarian partners, WHO’s team conducted a country-wide rapid disease risk assessment, which informed the development of a costed Strategic Health Response Plan. One of the top priorities from the assessment was torestore and ensure access to essential health services. WHO supported in many ways to achieve this objective. First, WHO trained twelve local evaluators and jointly conducted an in-depth assessment of damage and disruption to healthcare facilities that helped identifying areas of priority investments in restoring healthcare services.

Guided by the assessment’s findings, WHO operationally supported the government incomprehensive structural renovation of two damaged healthcare facilities and delivered emergency kits to the Ministry of Health and Hospital El Marouf. Supplies provided by WHO included Interagency Emergency Health Kits (IEHK) basic units, IEHK supplementary modules-medicines, IEHK supplementary modules-equipment, and IEHK supplementary modules-renewables. The IEHK units helped fill the immediate medical needs of the Comoros population affected by cyclone Kenneth, who faced limited access to routine health care services. Furthermore,to help restore healthcare services WHO provided a financial contribution of US$ 50 000 and supported the government in accessing US$ 242 500 from the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund.

To minimize the risks caused by damaged sanitation facilities and health infrastructures, WHO worked with government representatives and partners to set up an early warning and surveillance system to prevent, detect and respond rapidly to infectious disease threats. In addition, WHO scaled up the capacity to collect, manage, analyse, interpret, and report surveillance information. Daily situation reporting that WHO produced allowed the Government and partners to promptly identify and address emerging health threats, immediate and long-term actions, and influence health resources allocation to address the consequences of the cyclone.

These interventions by WHO and other relevant stakeholders minimized infectious diseases’ threats in the aftermath of cyclone Kenneth. The number of infectious diseases like cholera and diarrhoea cases were in the low hundreds with no reported deaths. As the Union of Comoros continues the path to restoring its healthcare system and re-establishing water and household sanitation, one measure put in place by the WHO —surveillance against disease outbreaks — will equip the country with the knowledge and experience that can help fore stall the worst impacts of future storms.

Photo caption: WHO provides urgent care after the cyclone.

Photo credit: WHO