The World Health Organization announced Thursday (Feb. 9) that Malawi’s deadliest cholera outbreak has killed at least 1,210 people, urging strong interventions to prevent the situation from worsening.
The number of cases in the Southern African country increased by 143% last month compared to December.
Since March 2022, nearly 37,000 cases have been reported.
Since the outbreak began, Malawi has conducted two large vaccination campaigns. However, due to a lack of supplies, authorities only provided one of the normally recommended two oral cholera vaccine doses.
Last month, a spokesman for the health ministry stated that all of the doses had been used.
The WHO-managed global stockpile of cholera vaccines was “empty or extremely low” late last year, despite worldwide cholera outbreaks.
Confirmed cases have been reported in neighboring Mozambique, and the WHO has determined that poor water, sanitation, and hygiene pose a risk to other bordering countries.
The WHO stated that efforts were underway to improve sanitation and access to clean water, with house-to-house chlorination, among other interventions, taking place in affected communities and districts.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters Wednesday that there were currently 23 countries in the world experiencing cholera outbreaks.
The institution’s chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said Wednesday (Feb. 08) that 23 countries across the world were experiencing cholera outbreaks, with a further 20 countries that share land borders with them at risk.
“In total, more than one billion people around the world are directly at risk of cholera,” he warned.
Cholera, which causes diarrhoea and vomiting, is contracted from a bacterium that is generally transmitted through contaminated food or water.