The number of cholera deaths reported worldwide last year jumped 71 percent from the previous year to more than 4,000, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported Wednesday. In a statement, the WHO lamented the death toll from a disease it called "preventable and easily treatable."
"Conflict, climate change, inadequate safe water and sanitation, poverty, underdevelopment, and population displacement due to emerging and re-emerging conflicts and disasters from natural hazards all contributed to the rise in cholera outbreaks last year," the statement said.
People can get cholera from food or water contaminated with cholera bacteria. It can spread from one person to the drinking water supply or to water used to prepare or grow food. As cholera can also spread when human feces with cholera enter the water supply, communities with limited access to sanitation are most vulnerable.
Symptoms of cholera include severe diarrhea, vomiting, increased thirst, leg cramps, and restlessness or irritability, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Most people who get cholera don't get sick, so these cases are never reported.
The number of cholera cases reported - more than 535,000 - also jumped by 13 percent from 2022 to 2023, the WHO said, up from more than 472,000 in 2022, with 38 percent of reported cases among children under the age of 5.
Last year, Africa saw a 125 percent increase in cholera cases, while cases in the Middle East and Asia dropped 32 percent, according to the WHO report. The UN health agency collected its 2023 cholera statistics from 45 countries. In 2022, 44 countries submitted information, while 35 countries submitted their figures in 2021.
In 2023, countries that reported large cholera outbreaks, either suspected or confirmed cases, included Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Malawi, and Somalia. Ethiopia, Haiti, Mozambique and Zimbabwe also reported significant outbreaks in 2023.
In this year's report, WHO said it was the first time that several countries reported cholera deaths that did not occur in health facilities. The so-called community deaths are an indication of "serious gaps in access to treatment and the need to strengthen this area of the response."
Preliminary data for 2024 show that cholera outbreaks continue, with active outbreaks recorded in 22 countries. Although the number of cases reported so far in 2024 is lower compared to the same period last year, as of August 22, more than 342,000 cases and at least 2,400 deaths have been reported to WHO across all continents.
“The global cholera crisis has caused a severe shortage of cholera vaccines. Between 2021 and 2023, more doses were requested for outbreak response than the entire previous decade,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a media briefing on Wednesday.
There is a cholera vaccine, but it is produced by a single manufacturer that has been unable to meet the demand.
“Since October 2022, the International Coordinating Group, which manages emergency vaccine supplies, has suspended the standard two-dose vaccination regimen, adopting a single-dose approach to reach and protect more people with limited supplies,” Ghebreyesus said.
Despite the low stockpile of oral cholera vaccine, a record 35 million doses were delivered last year using the single-dose strategy.
The UN agency has asked other companies to start producing the vaccine. According to the CDC, the main treatment for cholera is rehydration therapy, which aims to replace fluids lost through diarrhea and vomiting, but the WHO says its supplies are low.
“While vaccination is an important tool, safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene remain the only long-term and sustainable solutions to ending cholera outbreaks and preventing future ones,” the WHO chief said.
The UN agency has requested $50 million for its cholera response, but WHO said it has not received the funds. The need remains unmet.
WHO considers the current global risk from cholera to be very high and is responding with urgency to reduce deaths and contain outbreaks in countries around the world.
Many countries affected by cholera outbreaks, such as Sudan and Yemen, are currently experiencing flooding. The risk of further disease outbreaks due to the floods and subsequent stagnant floodwaters is high throughout the affected regions.
Some information for this report provided by VOA.
Further information
Full text: Cholera, 2023, World Health Organization (WHO), report, Weekly Epidemiological Record, to be published on September 6, 2024
https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/dco/wer_36_2024_cholera-annual-report-for-2023_bilingual-proof.pdf