Global cholera risk ‘very high’ as 24 countries now reporting outbreaks – WHO | CPT PPP Coverage

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The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said the global risk posed by cholera is now “very high” as outbreaks are now being reported in 24 countries.

t said the global situation has “further deteriorated” in the past month as four more countries have reported outbreaks, bringing the total to 24.

It also noted with concern the “alarmingly high mortality rates” associated with recent outbreaks in countries that have been cholera free for decades.

The case fatality rate has crept up to 1.9pc globally and 2.9pc in Africa, which are at the highest fatality rates for cholera in decades.

The WHO said that the cholera situation could get worse in the coming months as many regions are in their historically low periods for cholera transmission. 

Some 13 outbreaks are in Africa, with the rest in the Middle East, the Indian subcontinent and the Caribbean.

Close to 1,700 people have died from cholera in Malawi in the past three weeks.

The WHO said: “The overall capacity to respond to the multiple and simultaneous outbreaks continues to be strained due to the global lack of resources, including shortages of the oral cholera vaccine, as well as overstretched public health and medical personnel, who are dealing with multiple disease outbreaks and other health emergencies at the same time.

“Based on the current situation, WHO assesses the risk at the global level as very high.”

The WHO voiced particular concern about outbreaks in Malawi and Mozambique, where Storm Freddy killed hundreds and is severely hampering any outbreak control.

“The widespread and extended outbreaks in Malawi and Mozambique remain active, and the risk for further deterioration after the impact of cyclone Freddy in March is very concerning,” it said.

The world is facing an “acute upsurge” of the seventh cholera pandemic characterised by the number, size and concurrence of multiple outbreaks, the spread to areas free of cholera for decades and alarmingly high mortality rates.

“The simultaneous progression of several cholera outbreaks, compounded in countries facing complex humanitarian crises with fragile health systems and aggravated by climate change, poses challenges to outbreak response and risks further spreading to other countries,” it said.