Feb. 10, 2023

The World Health Organisation (WHO), on Friday announced the outbreak of cholera in 23 countries, warning that 20 more countries sharing land borders with the affected countries are at risk.

Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, stated this during the bloc’s online media conference.

Ghebreyesus further said that a total of more than one billion people globally, were at the risk of cholera.

“Cholera spreads through contaminated water, so clean water is needed urgently wherever there is an acute outbreak, to prevent transmission,” he said.

According to him, WHO also strongly recommends countries at risk of cholera outbreaks to scale up surveillance so cases can be identified and managed as quickly as possible.

The WHO boss noted that though there were effective vaccines for cholera, supply however, was very limited.

According to Ghebreyesus, the International Coordinating Group that manages the global cholera vaccine stockpile in 2022 suspended the standard two-dose regimen, recommending instead a single-dose approach to extend supply.

He, however, said in the medium-to long-term, it remained important that global vaccine production was increased.

“In the meantime, we must rely on other measures to stop outbreaks and save lives,” he said. (NAN)