Cholera: WHO says 307,433 cases recorded in 7 months

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says a total of 307,433 cholera cases and 2,326 deaths were reported from 26 countries, across five WHO regions from Jan. 1 to July 28.

The organisation said in a statement on Thursday that the Eastern Mediterranean Region recorded the highest number, followed by the African Region, the South-East Asia Region, the Region of the Americas, and the European Region.

“No outbreaks were reported in the Western Pacific Region during this time.

“The cholera response continues to be affected by a critical shortage of Oral Cholera Vaccines (OCV), as demand continues to outpace supply, with 105 million doses requested by 18 countries since January 2023, nearly double the 55 million doses produced in this period,” it said.

According to WHO, the global resurgence of cholera has been classified as a grade 3 emergency in January 2023, the highest internal level for emergencies in WHO.

It said, “Based on the number of outbreaks and their geographic expansion, alongside the shortage of vaccines and other resources, WHO continues to assess the risk at the global level as very high and the event remains classified as a grade three emergency.”