It is 2015, Samer (13-year-old), just got from school with a strong fever, headache, and tiredness but what was different is the swelling around his jaw area. His parents took him to the doctor and he was diagnosed with Mumps.

Days later, the school notified all parents of an outbreak in Mumps among students. And what was a school-level problem turned out to be a result of a nation-wide outbreak.

This line graph shows how the number of recorded Mumps cases in 2015 was higher than the years that followed, and this was caused primarily by outbreaks in certain governorates. For example, in 2015 each town in Beqaa valley recorded 62.5 Mumps cases over the year, another example is North Lebanon, were each town recorded on average 24.58 Mumps cases over the year.

However, after Samer, his friends and a big portion of the Lebanese citizens got vaccinated against this disease, we can see the success of those vaccination campaigns in the following years (2016, 2017, and 2018) were Mumps cases gradually decreases to reach almost zero records in towns of every governorate.

Since this shows that the authorities were able to make impact in preventing and controlling outbreaks between 2015 and 2018, then they should make sure that similar measures are constantly being implemented.

Because Mumps has a negative effect on the patient’s health, and is visible in the face region which can be mentally scarring, the Ministry of Public Health must make sure that preventive measures are constantly implemented to eliminate Mumps’ outbreaks. And this can be done through a set of actions:

• Ensure ahead of time that vaccines are available at health centers before the actual date of vaccination.
• Follow closely the progress of vaccination campaigns, especially in governorates with higher tendency for outbreaks.
• Increase awareness concerning this disease and the importance of being vaccinated.
• Benefit from lessons learned in campaigns done previously for Mumps especially between the 2015-2018 period, and how outbreaks were dealt with.

Taking those recommendations along with insights from specialists in the field will allow the MoPH to ensure the safety of citizens by preventing them from such harmful diseases. This way Samer and his friends don’t have to go through this disease that is harmful physically and disturbing.