WHO: Cholera on the rise, with conflicts fuelling spread

Cholera, a life-threatening diarrhoeal disease, is currently spreading further in conflict regions, the World Health Organization (WHO)said on Friday.

This year, 390,000 cases with 4,300 fatal outcomes have been registered in 31 countries, stressed Kathryn Alberti, a cholera expert at the WHO. She said the figures signal a major failure of the international community. "Cholera is preventable and easily treatable," Alberti added.

The situation is particularly concerning in Sudan, South Sudan, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Yemen.

In all these countries, conflicts are further fuelling the spread of cholera, said Alberti. In refugee camps, people often have only 3 litres of water a day – for drinking, washing and cooking. Access to clean drinking water is key in combating the disease.

With the rainy season now under way in affected African regions, the WHO predicts the situation will worsen further.

Vaccine production is running at full speed and is expected to reach a record amount by the end of the year, but the record production is being surpassed by record demand, Alberti emphasized.

Sudan alone has received a third of the vaccines so far this year, she said.

The international community needs to provide more money to organize effective aid, the expert said. The director general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), Jean Kaseya, recently criticized the undersupply of cholera vaccines. The continent requires 54 million vaccine doses annually, but only half are available, he said.