The number of cholera deaths reported last year worldwide ballooned from the previous year by 71% to more than 4,000, the World Health Organization reported Wednesday.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus lamented the death toll from a disease he described as “preventable and easily treatable.”
“Conflict, climate change, unsafe water and sanitation, poverty and displacement all contributed to the rise in cholera outbreaks,” he added.
People can contract cholera through food or water contaminated with cholera bacteria. It can spread from a person into the drinking water supply or water used to prepare or grow food.
Cholera symptoms include profuse diarrhea, vomiting, increased thirst, leg cramps and restlessness or irritability, according to the U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The number of cholera cases also jumped from 2022 to 2023 by 13%, WHO said, with 38% of the reported cases among children under age 5.
Last year, Africa experienced a 125% increase in cholera cases, while cases dropped 32% in the Middle East and Asia, according to the WHO report.
2023 data from 45 countries
WHO gathered its cholera statistics in 2023 from 45 countries. Forty-four countries submitted information in 2022, while 35 submitted their countries’ numbers in 2021.
In this year’s report, WHO said it was the first time that multiple countries had reported cholera deaths that did not happen in health facilities. The so-called community deaths, WHO said, are an indication of “serious gaps in access to treatment and the need to strengthen this area of response.”
Outbreaks in 22 countries this year
In 2023, the countries that reported large cholera outbreaks, either suspected or confirmed, included Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi and Somalia. Ethiopia, Haiti, Mozambique and Zimbabwe also reported outbreaks in 2023.
The preliminary data for 2024 show that cholera outbreaks are persisting, with active outbreaks recorded in 22 countries, according to WHO.
There is a cholera vaccine, but it is made by one manufacturer who has not been able to meet the demand. Tedros has asked other companies to begin making the vaccine.
The most important treatment for cholera, according to the CDC, is rehydration therapy aimed at replacing fluids lost through diarrhea and vomiting, but WHO says its supplies are low.
WHO said the agency has asked for $50 million for its cholera response but has not received the funding. It is a need, WHO said, that “remains unmet.”
