As part of the global effort to reduce cholera by 90% by 2030, WHO announced that more than 2 million people throughout Africa will receive the oral cholera vaccine.
According to a press release, this will be the “largest cholera vaccination drive in history,” with five major campaigns being implemented in Zambia, Uganda, Malawi, South Sudan and Nigeria.
“This is an unprecedented response to a spike in cholera outbreaks across Africa,” Seth Berkley, MD, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, said in a press release.
A study recently published in Emerging Infectious Diseases showed the interrelatedness of cholera epidemics in Africa. Abdinasir Abubakar, MD, MPH, epidemiologist for WHO, and colleagues identified cholera epidemic occurring in 2014, in Uganda and South Sudan and compared the epidemiologic and microbiological data.
The researchers concluded that the national outbreak in South Sudan started with a local outbreak in northern Uganda due to population movement and living conditions. Abubakar and colleagues recommended international collaboration to control the cholera epidemics across the continent.
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is funding the vaccines, which have been sourced from the global stockpile, according to the release. With support from WHO as well as the partners of the Global Task Force on Cholera Control, the vaccination campaigns will be implemented by the countries’ respective ministries of health.
“Every rainy season, cholera springs up and brings devastation to communities across Africa,” Matshidiso Moeti, MD, WHO’s regional director for Africa, said in the release. “With this historic drive, countries in the region are demonstrating their commitment to stopping cholera from claiming more lives.”
Nigeria’s allotted 1.2 million doses will help contain an emerging outbreak currently being tracked in the Bauchi state, protecting approximately 600,000 people. In Malawi, 1 million doses will administered to more than 500,000 people, and 360,000 people in Uganda will be vaccinated against the disease.
In a second round of vaccinations, Zambia will receive 667,100 doses, and 113,000 vaccinations have been sent to South Sudan as a preventive measure, anticipating the country’s rainy season. The campaigns will be completed by mid-June of this year, according to the release.
“These vaccines will make a difference in containing these outbreaks and saving lives across Africa. However, the only sustainable, long-term solution to cholera is improved water and sanitation,” a spokesman for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, told Infectious Disease News.
