Cholera, a disease that has been around for centuries, continues to spread rapidly across 32 countries, claiming over 6,800 lives this year alone. The last major outbreak in Britain occurred in 1866, and in the US since 1911. Despite being a waterborne disease that can be easily prevented with access to safe drinking water and sanitation, it thrives in areas plagued by conflict, poverty, and inequality.
The root cause of cholera's persistence is not a lack of scientific knowledge or effective solutions, but rather a failure of leaders to act with the urgency and commitment required to tackle this crisis. A consortium of over 50 partners, led by the World Health Organization (WHO), has established the Global Task Force on Cholera Control to provide essential supplies, detect, prevent, and treat cholera outbreaks.
To combat these outbreaks, the WHO and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention have launched a continental cholera emergency response plan. The disease is caused by a bacterium ingested through contaminated food or water, and can be prevented with effective vaccines. However, vaccine development has been hindered due to limited market opportunities in developing countries.
Currently, there is only one manufacturer producing cholera vaccines at the scale needed for mass vaccination campaigns: EUBiologics based in South Korea. The WHO's global cholera vaccine stockpile has distributed almost 255 million doses of vaccine to 34 countries since its establishment in 2013. However, production cannot keep up with demand, and the stockpile is regularly below the recommended threshold.
To stretch supplies further, the International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision (ICG) suspended the standard two-dose vaccination regimen in favour of a single dose. While this temporary solution provides protection, it wanes faster than a two-dose regimen. The demand for vaccines shows no sign of abating, and supply must increase.
In recent months, several countries have signed memoranda of understanding to establish cholera vaccine-production facilities on the continent. Zambia has partnered with China's Jijia Medical Technology Company to set up a facility in Lusaka. While expanding vaccine production is essential, it's only a short-term solution. The only long-term solution lies in investing in safe drinking water and sanitation.
Cholera is not an insurmountable medical challenge; it can be stopped. However, its persistence is largely due to the persistent issues of poverty, inequality, conflict, and displacement. To truly eradicate this disease, fundamental changes must be made by governments and leaders to address these underlying factors.
The root cause of cholera's persistence is not a lack of scientific knowledge or effective solutions, but rather a failure of leaders to act with the urgency and commitment required to tackle this crisis. A consortium of over 50 partners, led by the World Health Organization (WHO), has established the Global Task Force on Cholera Control to provide essential supplies, detect, prevent, and treat cholera outbreaks.
To combat these outbreaks, the WHO and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention have launched a continental cholera emergency response plan. The disease is caused by a bacterium ingested through contaminated food or water, and can be prevented with effective vaccines. However, vaccine development has been hindered due to limited market opportunities in developing countries.
Currently, there is only one manufacturer producing cholera vaccines at the scale needed for mass vaccination campaigns: EUBiologics based in South Korea. The WHO's global cholera vaccine stockpile has distributed almost 255 million doses of vaccine to 34 countries since its establishment in 2013. However, production cannot keep up with demand, and the stockpile is regularly below the recommended threshold.
To stretch supplies further, the International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision (ICG) suspended the standard two-dose vaccination regimen in favour of a single dose. While this temporary solution provides protection, it wanes faster than a two-dose regimen. The demand for vaccines shows no sign of abating, and supply must increase.
In recent months, several countries have signed memoranda of understanding to establish cholera vaccine-production facilities on the continent. Zambia has partnered with China's Jijia Medical Technology Company to set up a facility in Lusaka. While expanding vaccine production is essential, it's only a short-term solution. The only long-term solution lies in investing in safe drinking water and sanitation.
Cholera is not an insurmountable medical challenge; it can be stopped. However, its persistence is largely due to the persistent issues of poverty, inequality, conflict, and displacement. To truly eradicate this disease, fundamental changes must be made by governments and leaders to address these underlying factors.
. I mean, it's not like we haven't got the tech and expertise to stop it. But the thing is, poverty and conflict do make it super hard for people to access clean water and proper healthcare. It's all about prioritizing these issues over just throwing money at vaccine production 
. We need more investment in sanitation and safe drinking water to really tackle this problem. And can we talk about how slow it is to develop new vaccines? Like, we've got a shortage of doses right now and we're still waiting for new facilities to set up 
. It's just so frustrating.
It's not rocket science people! But no, governments are too busy fighting each other over petty issues to care about the people who are suffering.
Not just some tokenistic PR campaign or vague promises of "support" from governments. We need concrete, tangible steps being taken to address this crisis.
! I mean, 6,800 lives lost in a year? That's just not okay. And it's all because of our leaders' failure to act quickly enough 
. We need more funding for safe drinking water and sanitation infrastructure ASAP 
. Vaccines are available, but production can't keep up with demand 
, but we need a bigger solution here 
. We can't just keep patching things together - we need to address the root causes of poverty and inequality that let cholera spread so easily 
We're not going to beat this disease without making some serious changes 
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The fact that leaders haven't been able to act with the urgency and commitment required to tackle this crisis is just mind-boggling. And don't even get me started on the vaccine situation - one manufacturer producing vaccines at a scale that can meet demand in developing countries? It's like they're playing catch-up here 
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. And I'm not buying the temporary solution of reducing the vaccination regimen - that's just a Band-Aid on a bullet wound 
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and its sad to hear that vaccine production cant keep up with demand, i mean who wouldve thought we'd still be dealing with this in 2025?! 
. We need governments and leaders to invest in safe drinking water, sanitation, and infrastructure for all 
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. I mean, what's the point of having all these vaccines if we're still gonna have outbreaks because people don't have access to basic necessities? It's time for a change 