In 2022, around 30 countries suffered outbreaks of cholera or similar diseases. But it’s not just one big outbreak. In most countries, the current wave of cholera is caused by local problems related to access to safe drinking water and the proper disposal of wastewater.
Cholera is a disease caused by bacteria that infect the intestines after people have ingested contaminated food or water. The bacteria cause very severe diarrhea and sometimes vomiting. Diarrhea is so severe that when a person gets sick they quickly dehydrate and can die within hours.
The diarrhea of sick people contains many cholera bacteria. If sewage containing these bacteria somehow contaminates drinking water, which can happen surprisingly easily, cholera outbreaks can spread extremely quickly.
What situations can lead to a cholera epidemic?
Prolonged political or military crises: this type of crisis can cause a lack of maintenance of the drinking water and sewage infrastructure, as is the current case in Haiti, Somalia and Syria.
Natural disasters: Heat and drought can reduce the amount of safe drinking water, forcing people to use unsafe sources. On the other hand, flooding can facilitate the spread of the bacteria to previously safe water sources. In 2022, countries like Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia suffered from severe droughts. Others, like South Sudan and Nigeria, suffered from flooding.
People on the move: Refugees often have to stay in places where there is insufficient access to clean water, and authorities often fail to invest in adequate water and waste infrastructure in refugee camps. This year there have been outbreaks of cholera in refugee camps in Lebanon, Somalia and Nigeria.
What are the current challenges?
Cholera is easy to treat, with oral rehydration for most patients and intravenous rehydration for the most severe cases. When treated early, more than 99% of patients survive the disease. Providing clean drinking water and properly processing wastewater protects people from getting infected in the first place. There is also an effective vaccine against cholera.
But cholera treatment and prevention come with considerable logistical challenges. Setting up cholera treatment centers requires a large amount of supplies, as do water and sanitation projects.
In places that are insecure or difficult to access, that is a huge limitation. And just the number of shoots this year makes it very challenging. There are already shortages of cholera vaccines and the supply of other essential materials, such as intravenous rehydration fluid, is also under pressure from demand.
Governments sometimes do not want to officially declare cholera epidemics, often for political reasons. This makes it even more difficult to adequately inform the population about the ways in which they can protect themselves, and makes it impossible to carry out vaccinations against cholera.
How does Doctors Without Borders respond to cholera outbreaks?
Currently, they carry out cholera programs in 10 countries: Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Cameroon, Nigeria, Haiti, Lebanon, Syria and Malawi. The teams participate in the following activities:
Cholera prevention.
Health promotion.
Water and sanitation works.
Vaccination against the disease.
They also run cholera units to treat patients at medical centers and we have set up larger, separate cholera centers where hundreds of patients can be admitted simultaneously.
For inquiries on this topic, contact:
Dolores Sosa (Doctors Without Borders): dolores.sosa@buenosaires.msf.org – +54 9 11 3872-3609
Source: inncontext.net