Cholera poses a risk to the health of at least one billion people, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned in a report in which it names Mozambique, Malawi and the Democratic Republic of Congo among the countries most at risk.
According to the health organisation’s recent annual report, there is an unprecedented number of outbreaks and a shortage of vaccines to mitigate them, which are also affecting Syria and Haiti.
The report also showed an upward trend in the number of deaths from cholera, with almost 3,700 deaths recorded in 2023, four times more than three years ago.
“It is unacceptable that anyone should die from cholera, a disease that is so simple and inexpensive to treat,” said the head of the WHO’s cholera team, Philippe Barboza, who insisted that the shortage of vaccines remains one of the main challenges in treating the disease.
In this regard, the WHO predicts that requests for cholera vaccines in 2023 will at least double annual production and that there will be no substantial increase in production before 2025.
The doses currently available, according to the WHO expert, can only be used to “mitigate existing outbreaks” and not to “prevent new outbreaks”, even in high-risk and endemic areas.
In addition, Barboza warned of a very likely increase in cholera cases in the most affected regions due to the start of the rainy season and the prevalence of the “El Niño” meteorological phenomenon, which normally leads to higher temperatures in many latitudes.
“These meteorological circumstances mean that humanitarian needs are increasing exponentially and, with them, the risks of cholera,” concluded the expert.
