WHO cautions on cholera
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has cautioned Malawi alongside its neighbours Zambia and Mozambique to remain vigilant to avert further spread of cholera as the waterborne disease continues to surge.
The warning is contained in the WHO Disease Outbreak News (DON) Annual Compendium 2022 released yesterday highlighting selected disease outbreak news reports for the past two years.
It shows that nine reports were published on cholera outbreaks that occurred in seven countries, namely Benin, Cameroon, Haiti, Lebanon, Malawi, Pakistan and Somalia. Malawi is listed as the worst-hit by cholera in 2022 and 2023.
Reads the WHO report in part: “From February 28 2022 to May 15 2023, 58 690 suspected and confirmed cholera cases and 1 759 deaths were reported from all 29 districts of [Malawi], making it the biggest active cholera outbreak in Africa.
“Since the middle of April, both the numbers of weekly cases and deaths continue to decline.”
At the peak of the outbreak, WHO noted that Malawi had a case fatality rate of three percent per 100 people.
During the same reporting period, Benin recorded 1 430 cholera cases and 20 deaths, representing a case fatality rate of one percent. Cameron had 16 859 cases while Haiti had 42 351 suspected cases and 2678 confirmed cases.
With the surge of cholera cases in neighbouring Mozambique and Zambia, WHO fears Malawi and other countries in the region face continued risk of further increases in the number of cases.
As of Monday, 351 Zambians had died of cholera with nearly 9 000 active cases reported to have been registered.
WHO has since encouraged Malawi and its neighbours to ensure cooperation and regular information sharing so that any spread across the border is quickly contained.
Minister of Health Khumbize Kandodo Chiponda last week acknowledged the threat that the outbreak in Zambia poses to Malawi and urged for vigilance.
She said although the cases are not imported, the country had already recorded 47 cholera cases with two deaths between November 1 and December 31 2023.
