Economic turmoil, climate change and pandemic are blamed as the water-borne infection flourishes in multiple countries.
A Syrian mother soothes her child while they receive treatment for cholera at a hospital in Deir el-Zour CREDIT: Baderkhan Ahmad/AP
The world is facing the biggest surge in cholera for at least 20 years, as economic crises, climate change and the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic see deadly outbreaks flourish, experts say.
At least 30 countries have seen flare-ups of the water-borne infection, long associated with poverty, inadequate hygiene and poor sanitation, including several which have not seen the disease for years.
The combination of the number and scale of the outbreaks is thought to be the worst in decades and comes after many countries had made progress cutting deaths from the infection.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that flooding from the storm season in Southern Africa risks further fuelling outbreaks, even as the weekly case tally in the continent appears to dip.
Philippe Barboza, the WHO lead for cholera emergencies, said patchy historic data made it difficult to compare this year’s outbreaks with the past, but they were the biggest seen in two decades.
“I would say … the number of countries with these large outbreaks occurring at the same time, we have not seen it in at least 20 years,” he told the Telegraph.
A man bathes in a natural spring water pool which was confirmed to be contaminated with the cholera bacterium in La Zurza, a sector of Santo Domingo by the Isabela River in the Dominican Republic CREDIT: ERIKA SANTELICES/AFP via Getty Images
Cholera should be easily preventable, and strikes only the most vulnerable who have no access to clean water or healthcare.
That makes it a barometer of poverty, as well as the effectiveness of basic sanitation and healthcare, said Arielle Nylander, a senior policy analyst at WaterAid, the London-based clean water and hygiene charity.
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