As 2024 commences, WHO reports persistent high risks of worldwide cholera

As the new year begins, the latest report from the World Health Organization (WHO) underscores that cholera continues to be a significant global threat. The report was released on Monday.

The WHO has classified the global cholera risk as extremely high, maintaining its designation as a grade 3 emergency.

The report revealed that just in January, 17 countries across four regions—including the African Region, the Eastern Mediterranean Region, the Region of the Americas, and the South-East Asia Region—documented 40,900 cases and 775 fatalities due to cholera.

Zambia and Zimbabwe recorded the greatest surges in cholera cases, illustrating the persistent difficulty in controlling the disease and highlighting the essential need for continuous public health efforts. Cholera typically has a mortality rate of 1% among those infected; however, in Zambia, one of the poorest countries globally, this rate has escalated to 3.6%.

The WHO's data showed a troubling upsurge in global cholera cases and related deaths. Over 708,200 cases of cholera or acute watery diarrhea (AWD), leading to more than 4,300 deaths, were documented in 2023. For comparison, there were 472,697 cases and 2,349 deaths in 2021.

The global response to cholera is being severely affected by a critical shortage in Oral Cholera Vaccines (OCV). From January 2023 to January 2024, 14 countries urgently requested 76 million OCV doses, while only 38 million doses were available during that period.

James del Carmen