The World Health Organization (WHO) warned this Friday that the death rate due to cholera outbreaks, which currently affect 22 countries, rose to 2% in 2021, a percentage it believes will remain in 2022 and continue. in 2023.
In the past week alone, new outbreaks have been reported in three countries, Philippe Barbosa, WHO’s cholera control officer, told a press conference, highlighting the risks this increase poses to global health.
“In 2022, cholera outbreaks were reported in more than 50% of countries compared to previous years, including countries that have been free of the disease for many years,” he said.
Some of the outbreaks have been declared in areas affected by violence and conflict, such as Haiti or Syria, and in Africa, the epicenter is in Malawi, a country in the south that is experiencing a deadly wave and where there is a shortage of vaccines.
At least 1,400 people have died out of 45,000 cases reported since March 2022 in a country considered one of the world’s poorest, according to the UN.
In Mozambique, a cholera outbreak that has hit parts of the southern African region since late last year has killed 37 out of 5,260 cases reported by the authorities, the Portuguese-speaking region’s health minister said this week. a country.
In neighboring South Africa, health authorities also announced this week that a 24-year-old man had died of cholera, breaking the country’s record of 15 years without a death from the infectious disease.
A total of five cases have been reported in South Africa since the beginning of February.
The WHO cholera official confirmed today that the spread of the disease threatens an estimated one billion people worldwide and warned that vaccine stocks remain low, with about 37 million doses available for this year.
This means that in many countries vaccination campaigns have replaced the two recommended doses in areas at risk of outbreaks with just one, Philippe Barbosa lamented.
In view of the progression of the disease, WHO this year for the first time requested a special fund of $25 million (about 23.65 million euros) from donor countries and institutions to fight it.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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