Cholera Deaths Soar Worldwide as Fatalities spiked 71 percent last year, far outpacing the 13 percent rise in cases--WHO

The cholera outbreaks spreading across the globe are becoming more deadly. Deaths from the diarrheal disease soared last year, far outpacing the increase in cases, according to a new analysis by the World Health Organization.

Data show marked increase in annual cholera deaths The World Health Organization (WHO) has published global cholera statistics for 2023, showing an increase in cases and deaths.  The number of reported cholera cases increased by 13% and deaths by 71% in 2023 compared to 2022.

Cholera is easy to prevent and costs just pennies to treat, but huge outbreaks have swamped even well-prepared health systems in countries that had not confronted the disease in years. The number of cholera deaths reported globally last year increased by 71 percent from deaths in 2022, while the number of reported cases rose 13 percent. Much of the increase was driven by conflict and climate change, the W.H.O. report said.

“For death rates to be rising so much faster even than cases are increasing, this is totally unacceptable,” said Philippe Barboza, who leads the cholera team in the health emergencies program of the W.H.O. “It reflects the world’s lack of interest in a disease that has plagued humans for thousands of years, afflicting the poorest people who cannot find clean water to drink,” he said.

More than 4,000 people were officially reported to have died from cholera in 2023, but the true number is probably far higher, Dr. Barboza said. The W.H.O.’s efforts to model the actual number of cholera deaths, using data gathered from testing programs, found that the total death count for 2023 could be more than 100,000.

Cholera can cause death by dehydration in as little as a single day, as the body tries to expel virulent bacteria in streams of vomit and watery diarrhea.

“How can we accept that in 2024 that people are dying because they don’t have access to a simple bag of oral rehydration salts that cost 50 cents?” Dr. Barboza said. “It’s not because they don’t have an I.C.U. — it’s just IV fluid and antibiotics that they need.”

There were 45 countries with reported cholera cases in 2023, up markedly from 35 countries with cases in 2021. The global burden of the disease has shifted from the Middle East and Asia to Africa, where there was a 125 percent increase in cases in 2023 compared with the previous year.

Cholera’s spread in southern Africa has been propelled by catastrophic weather events, including both floods and droughts. When people lack access to water, they often crowd around a few sources, which, if they become polluted, can quickly sicken thousands.

Zambia and Malawi both mounted strong responses to cholera outbreaks, Dr. Barboza said, but their health systems were overwhelmed. In the Zambian capital, Lusaka, the government had to set up a cholera treatment center in a stadium.

In Sudan, where more than nine million people have been displaced by a brutal civil war, people are packed into camps with minimal sanitation infrastructure. Nevertheless, health workers managed to bring a cholera outbreak under control last year, said Dr. Bashir Hamid, the health and nutrition director for Save the Children in Sudan. But now, he said, the disease is back, with more than 5,600 cases reported since mid-August.

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