countries affected by the epidemic in 2024

More than 140,000 cases of cholera have been recorded by the World Health Organization (WHO) since the beginning of 2024. More than 700,000 cases had been reported in 2023.

The deadly cholera epidemic is surging, worries the World Health Organization (WHO). It now affects a French territory, Mayotte, where a 3-year-old child died of this disease on Wednesday May 8. The Comoros, neighboring islands of the French archipelago off the coast of Africa, are hard hit by cholera, like other countries, mainly African. Franceinfo takes stock of the extent of the epidemic in the world.

According to the WHO (in English), 24 countries have recorded new cases of cholera since the start of 2024. 141,900 cases have been recorded, including 25,000 in the month of March alone. There have been more than 1,700 deaths since the start of the year. The countries most affected by the epidemic are the Comoros, a neighboring archipelago of Mayotte, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Somalia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. And Afghanistan has the highest number of reported cases: 33,300.

According to WHO figures, more than 700,000 cases were recorded in 2023, compared to 473,000 the previous year. And since the start of 2024, contaminations have not slowed down. “The situation has only gotten worse”, declared Doctor Philippe Barboza, responsible for cholera and diarrheal diseases at the WHO. Since January 2023, the UN agency has classified the resurgence of the disease in category 3 of emergencies, its highest level.

In 2022, the WHO had already observed an acceleration of the cholera pandemic, with a doubling of the number of cases recorded and an increase in the number of countries reporting cases, going from 35 in 2021 to 44 in 2022. And the WHO had observed “large outbreaks” (more than 10,000 cases in a given country) in seven countries on two continents (Afghanistan, Cameroon, Malawi, Nigeria,
Syria, Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia).

Vaccines and prevention

Cholera thrives in environments where water sanitation is not guaranteed. Because it is a disease that comes from bacteria transmitted by contaminated water or food. In about a quarter of cases, it can be fatal, causing an acute form of diarrhea and vomiting, leading to death within one to three days. Its spread is worsening because of global warming, warns the WHO, which also points to the lack of means to fight the disease.

Faced with the resurgence of infections around the world, available vaccines are insufficient. To overcome this shortage, the WHO now recommends only one dose of vaccine instead of two. It also approved, on April 19, a simplified version of an oral vaccine against cholera, which should make it possible to increase the total production of these serums. Large screening campaigns are also organized in the affected countries. But for the WHO, “clean water, sanitation and hygiene are the only long-term, sustainable solutions to end the cholera epidemic and prevent further epidemics.”