Geneva, 5 September 2024 (TDI): The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that the number of cholera cases and fatalities increased significantly in the previous year and that more work has to be done to stop the fatal disease.
Recent statistics from the UN organization shows that in 2023, cholera deaths increased by 71% while cases increased by 13% over the previous year.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of WHO, said at a press conference that cholera “killed 4,000 people last year, despite being preventable and easily treatable.”
The cholera-hit areas underwent significant shifts. The statistics showed that while there was a massive 125 percent increase in cases recorded in Africa, there was a 32 percent decline in cases in the Middle East and Asia.
According to Tedros, there have been more than 342,000 illnesses and 2,400 deaths so far this year, and outbreaks are still ongoing in 22 countries.
One country that has been devastated by war Sudan, which last month saw a cholera outbreak following a period of intense rain.
According to Philippe Barbosa, the WHO’s technical head on cholera, the figures most certainly underestimate the exact toll of the epidemic.
Referring to modeling research, he stated that approximately two million cholera cases and 100,000 deaths occur annually.
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Barbosa emphasized that preventing these fatalities, which he described as “totally morally unacceptable,” “just costs a few cents.”
The WHO director stated that only about 36 million doses were created in 2022—less than half of what the afflicted countries had asked for.
Tedros encouraged other manufacturers to join the one cholera vaccine company already producing the vaccine, EuBiologics of South Korea.
“Safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene continue to be the only long-term, sustainable ways to stop cholera epidemics, even though vaccine is an important tool,” he said.
The WHO states that eating or drinking food or water infected with the bacterium is typically the cause of cholera, which causes severe diarrhea, vomiting, and cramping in the muscles.
