{"id":3755,"date":"2023-02-27T14:24:49","date_gmt":"2023-02-27T14:24:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/?p=3755"},"modified":"2023-02-27T14:24:49","modified_gmt":"2023-02-27T14:24:49","slug":"global-over-1-billion-in-43-nations-at-risk-amid-cholera-outbreaks-who-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/global-over-1-billion-in-43-nations-at-risk-amid-cholera-outbreaks-who-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Global: Over 1 Billion in 43 Nations At Risk Amid Cholera Outbreaks, WHO Says"},"content":{"rendered":"

A global surge of cholera cases has put one billion people in 43 countries at risk, the World Health Organization (WHO) cautioned this week.<\/em><\/p>\n

Three countries, this week alone, have reported outbreaks, WHO<\/a> cholera<\/a> team leader Philippe Barboza told reporters at a press conference on Friday (February 24, 2022).<\/p>\n

For the first time, WHO is asking donors for help to fight the outbreaks, he said.<\/p>\n

Right now, 22 countries across the world are fighting outbreaks<\/strong> of the acute diarrhoeal infection caused by eating or drinking contaminated food or water. Cholera cases climbed in 2022<\/strong>, following years of falling numbers of cases, and the trend is expected to continue<\/strong> into this year, he said.<\/p>\n

He said cases have been reported in five of the six regions<\/a> where WHO operates. The latest WHO global overview<\/a> published in early February showed the situation has further deteriorated since 2022.<\/p>\n

Poverty, disasters, conflict and climate change consequences continue to be driving factors alongside a lack of access to safe water and sanitation, Dr. Barboza said.<\/p>\n

Limited vaccine supplies<\/strong><\/h3>\n

“An unprecedented situation requires an unprecedented response,” he said, drawing attention to the limited availability of vaccines, medicines, and testing kits<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Only 37 million doses are available in 2023<\/strong>, he said. More doses are expected to be available by next year.<\/p>\n

As a result of the current global surge, WHO is, for the first time ever, appealing to donors<\/strong> to support a $25 million fund to help to address cholera outbreaks and save lives<\/strong>, he said.<\/p>\n

Prevention is key<\/strong>, he said, noting that nearly half of the world lacks access to safely managed sanitation.<\/p>\n

“Access to safe drinking water and sanitation are<\/strong>internationally recognized human rights<\/strong>,” he said. “Making these rights a reality will also end cholera<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

Outbreak in Africa<\/strong><\/h3>\n

An exponential rise in the number of cholera cases<\/a> in Africa includes an outbreak in Mozambique<\/strong>, which is also grappling with severe storms brought on by cyclone Freddy<\/a>. The first case of cholera in the current outbreak was reported to the Ministry of Health and WHO from Lago district in Niassa province in September.<\/p>\n

As of 19 February, Mozambique reported a cumulative total of 5,237 suspected cases and 37 deaths. All six cholera-affected provinces are flood-prone areas<\/strong>, and WHO anticipates that more will be affected<\/strong> as the rainy season continues<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Considering the frequency of cross-border movement<\/strong> and the history of cross-border spread of cholera during this outbreak, WHO considers the risk of further disease spread<\/strong> as very high<\/strong> at national and regional levels.<\/p>\n

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An estimated 26,000 cases and 660 deaths have been reported as of 29 January 2023 in 10 African countries facing outbreaks<\/strong> since the beginning of the year, WHO said. In 2022, nearly 80,000 cases and 1,863 deaths were recorded from 15 affected countries.<\/p>\n

Multiple countries affected<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Neighbouring Malawi is facing the deadliest cholera outbreakin two decades<\/strong>, and cases are being reported in other countries, including Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia<\/strong>, WHO reported.<\/p>\n

The UN health agency said challenges include climate change<\/strong>, which has led to drought or flooding in parts of Africa, resulting in<\/strong> increased population displacement<\/strong> and reduced access to clean water<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Worldwide, people in Haiti, India, Pakistan, the Philippines and Syria, among others<\/strong>, are also affected by outbreaks.<\/p>\n

Global threat<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Cholera remains a global threat to public health<\/strong>, WHO said. In 2017, affected countries, donors, and partners of the Global Task Force on Cholera Control<\/a>launched a renewed global cholera control strategy, Ending Cholera: A Global Roadmap to 2030. It aims at reducing cholera deaths by 90 per cent over the next decade.<\/p>\n

While the number of cases had been declining, WHO remains concerned about the current surge<\/strong>. Researchers estimate that every year, there are between 1.3 and 4 million cases and 21,000 to 143,000 deaths worldwide due to the infection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A global surge of cholera cases has put one billion people in 43 countries at risk, the World Health Organization (WHO) cautioned this week. Three countries, this week alone, have…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[73,80],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-global","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/677A7702-BB4D-4604-8E91-E13795EC6DDC.jpeg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3755"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3758,"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3755\/revisions\/3758"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regtechafrica.com\/healthcare\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}