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The death toll from a cholera outbreak in Malawi has surpassed 1,300, Malawi’s senior health official said on Thursday, as the southern African country battles its deadliest outbreak yet.
As of Wednesday, Malawi has recorded 40,284 cases of cholera and 1,316 deaths in the outbreak that began in March 2022, with the country averaging more than 500 new cases per day, Charles Mwansambo told a briefing organized by the African office of the World Health Organization (WHO). ).
Cholera outbreaks occur regularly in Malawi, usually during the rainy season from November to March, but the average annual death toll is only about 100.
The WHO said in a statement on Thursday that Malawi’s current outbreak is the deadliest on record, worse than the 1998-99 and 2001-02 outbreaks which resulted in 860 and 968 deaths respectively.
Malawi has run two oral cholera vaccination campaigns, but a global surge in cholera outbreaks means vaccine supplies are under strain.
Other countries are reporting outbreaks
Other African countries, including neighboring Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia, have reported cases of cholera.
In East Africa, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are responding to outbreaks amid a long and severe drought, and in West and Central Africa there are cases in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria.
On Sunday, South Africa reported two cases of cholera imported from Malawi, with the husband of one of the first two cases later testing positive.
Haiti, in the Caribbean, has also experienced a major cholera outbreak that has seen more than 20,000 cases since officials reported the first infection in the country more than three years ago in October 2022.
Cholera is primarily transmitted through contaminated food or water and can cause acute diarrhea. While many people have mild symptoms, if left untreated it can kill within hours.
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