JOHANNESBURG – The death toll from a cholera outbreak in Malawi has crossed 1,300, a senior Malawian health official said, as the southern African country battles its deadliest outbreak yet.
As of Wednesday, Malawi had recorded 40,284 cholera cases and 1,316 deaths in an outbreak that started in March 2022, with the country averaging over 500 new cases every day, Charles Mwansambo told a briefing organised by the World Health Organisation’s Africa office according to Reuters.
Cholera outbreaks happen regularly in Malawi, usually in the rainy season from November to March, but they only average an annual death toll of about 100.
The WHO said in a statement that Malawi’s current outbreak was the deadliest on record, worse than ones in 1998/99 and 2001/02 that saw 860 and 968 deaths respectively.
Malawi has conducted two oral cholera vaccination campaigns, but a global surge in cholera outbreaks means vaccine supplies are under strain.
Other African countries, including Malawi’s neighbours Mozambique and Zambia, have reported cholera cases.
Discussion about this post