The World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday it was «very concerned» about the cholera outbreak in Malawi, which has so far left nearly 40,000 cases and more than 1,300 dead, making it the deadliest in the African country’s history.
«We are particularly concerned about the situation in Malawi,» said Patrick Otim, epidemiologist in charge of Health Emergencies at WHO’s Africa office, who pointed to a «significant increase» in cases on the continent by January 2023.
He specified that, although several outbreaks have been recorded in the region since 2021, «countries were able to respond and contain it quickly», while nearly 26,000 cases were confirmed in January, representing 30 percent of those confirmed last year.
«We are concerned that if this trend continues, we would exceed the 2022 cases, which would put a lot of pressure on the health systems in the affected countries,» he said, while stressing that the case fatality rate is 3.3 percent. «It is recommended to be below one percent, so it is worrying,» he lamented.
Otim stressed that so far this year cholera cases have been reported in Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Cameroon, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi, Kenya and Ethiopia, although he stressed that Malawi – where the disease has been endemic since the 1990s – is the most affected country.
Malawi’s Minister of Health, Charles Mwansambo, said that so far 40,284 cases have been confirmed, with 1,316 deaths. «On average, we are registering more than 500 cases per day,» he said, before pointing out that «most of the cases are occurring in five districts, especially in the cities of Blantyre and Lilongwe, particularly in peri-urban areas.
«Most of the cases are people aged between ten and 59 years, with about 60 percent (of the total). Most of the deaths are people over 50 years of age,» he said. The Government of Malawi declared a health emergency in early December because of the cholera outbreak and its geographical spread, affecting all 29 provinces of the country.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
