Cholera Outbreak

Since early 2022 there is another global pandemic bubbling and it's not showing any signs of cooling off: Cholera. Around the world, outbreaks of this waterborne disease are common in hotspots where floods and natural disasters are annual occurrences for the world's poorest and most vulnerable. Many nations where some of our Links' partners are living - like Malawi, Zambia, Syria and Lebanon - are tackling this health issue in their communities right now.

Global vaccine manufacture and supply is currently strained, to the point of many governments having no availability to help curb the rise in infections and fatality of this curable disease. As the world media and governments focus heavily on economic and political situations, this surge of reducing health of the poor is largely being ignored.

In Malawi, since March 2022 to early February 2023, there have been 36,943 reported cases and 1,210 associated deaths - that's a 3.3% fatality rate. To put this into perspective, the Covid-19 pandemic Malawi statistics show a similar yet lower fatality rate of 3.0% over a 3-year period. The world may not be ready to hear the words such as 'outbreak' and 'vaccines' again but, where the poor majority is most impacted by the climate crisis, they too will be more heavily impacted by a rise in associated diseases.

The main preventative care and advice of such disease and outbreaks remains the same - Sanitation, Hygiene, Immunisation, Nutrition and Empowerment (S.H.I.N.E.). Links' community healthcare programme for partners around the world remains important for helping those most impacted by such outbreaks. The provision of simple water purification technology can also help to reduce the spread of similar waterborne diseases.

Find out more about our CHC SHINE programme, and how to support such emergency situations our partners are facing, below.
‍