The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that during the month of May, a total of 46,364 new cases of cholera have been reported in 19 countries in four WHO regions, which represents an increase of 58 percent compared to the month. former.
The highest number of cases has been recorded in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (33,779 cases in six countries), followed by the African Region (12,504 cases in 11 countries), the European Region (79 cases in 1 country) and the from Asia and the Pacific (2 cases in 1 country).
In the same period, 185 deaths related to cholera have been recorded, which represents a decrease of 37 percent compared to the previous month. The highest number of fatalities has been reported in the African Region (130 deaths; 10 countries), followed by the Eastern Mediterranean Region (54 deaths; four countries) and the European Region (one death; one country).
Thus, the WHO has reported that since the beginning of 2024 until May 26, a total of 194,897 cases of cholera and 1,932 related deaths have been reported in 24 countries distributed in five regions.
Specifically, the Eastern Mediterranean Region has recorded the highest numbers, followed by the African Region, the Americas Region, the South-East Asia Region and the European Region. No outbreaks have been reported in the Western Pacific Region during this period.
In this sense, the WHO has reported that the global stockpile of oral cholera vaccines (OCV) was depleted until early March, but exceeded the emergency target of 5 million doses in early June for the first time in 2024. As of 10 June 2024, the reserve has 6.2 million doses. However, the WHO assures that demand for the vaccine continues to exceed supply. Since January 2023, 16 countries have ordered 92 million OCV doses, almost double the 49 million doses produced during this period.
The WHO classified the global resurgence of cholera as a grade 3 emergency in January 2023, the highest internal level for emergencies in the Organization. Based on the number of outbreaks and their geographical spread, along with the shortage of vaccines and other resources, WHO continues to assess the global risk as very high and the event remains classified as a grade 3 emergency.
