Cholera cases soared last year, according to preliminary data from the World Health Organization, which recorded 4,000 cholera deaths and 667,000 cases globally.
The numbers surpassed that of 2022, and the WHO has classified the global resurgence of cholera as a grade 3 emergency, its highest internal health emergency level.
Outbreaks were deadliest in Malawi and Haiti, where the number of deaths reached 1,771 and 1,156 respectively, making it the worst outbreak in Malawi’s history.
“The unprecedented rate of cases and deaths is terrifying, and utterly overwhelming the health systems of these countries,” said Machinda Marongwe, the programme director of Oxfam in Southern Africa. “The outbreak is spiralling into an uncontrollable health crisis.”
At least 30 other countries have reported cases since the beginning of 2024. Zambia reported 7,500 new cases since October and saw 500 new cases and 17 deaths in just 24 hours this week.
The Zambian president, Hakainde Hichilema, has urged people to move out of towns and back to rural areas as schools remain closed to prevent further spread. There have been reports of unrest fuelled by disinformation about the outbreak, emerging from neighbouring Mozambique.
At least three people lost their lives during a violent outburst in northern Mozambique this week when attackers torched buildings amid accusations that the government had deliberately spread the disease.
“Governments and agencies in the region need immediate funding to swiftly implement activities and projects that would help improve people’s hygiene and access to clean water, since these two factors are key in the fight against the spread,” Marongwe said.
Cholera is a bacterial disease which spreads through contaminated water and food and causes profuse diarrhoea and vomiting.
Given the spread of the outbreak to new countries and global shortage of cholera vaccines, the WHO said that it continued to assess the risk level of the disease as “very high”.
Earlier last year Gavi, an international vaccine alliance, said that it expected the global shortage to last at least until 2025.
The outbreak of the waterborne disease has been further exacerbated by natural disasters and floods. Last year, eastern Africa saw devastating flooding, intensified by the climate crisis.
