Tag Archive for: cholera

Malawi has delayed the opening of public schools in the southern African country’s two major cities of Blantyre and Lilongwe, the health minister said Monday, to try to slow down a surge in cholera deaths.

The global stockpile of cholera vaccines the World Health Organization helps manage is “currently empty or extremely low”, a WHO official said on Friday amid a resurgence of the disease around the world.

The partnership with non-profit IVI, headquartered in South Korea, aims to boost output and reduce vaccine shortages amid a spate of global outbreaks that spurred the World Health Organization to temporarily change its dosage regime.

Lebanon took delivery on Monday of its first vaccines to combat a worsening cholera outbreak – together with sharply worded criticism of the crisis-hit country’s crumbling public health infrastructure from donor nation France.

A World Health Organization spokesperson said on Tuesday it was setting up tents to treat cholera in Haiti and would also request the supply of oral vaccines against the disease, which has unexpectedly returned to a country paralyzed by a gang blockade.

Cholera cases have surged this year, especially in places of poverty and conflict, with outbreaks reported in 26 countries and fatality rates rising sharply, a World Health Organization official said on Friday.