With thanks to Jackeline Alger, lead moderator of HIFA-Spanish.
Extracts and comments from me below. Full text here:
https://www.who.int/news/item/12-09-2025-cholera-kills-more-people-for-s...
==
The World Health Organization (WHO) has published its global cholera statistics for 2024, showing an increase in both the number of people who fell sick and died from the disease.
Reported cholera cases rose by 5% and deaths by 50% in 2024 compared to 2023, with more than 6000 people dying from a disease that is both preventable and treatable. While these numbers are themselves alarming, they are underestimates of the true burden of cholera...
The case fatality ratio for Africa increased from 1.4% in 2023 to 1.9% in 2024, revealing critical gaps in the delivery of life-saving care...
One quarter of deaths occurred in the community, outside of health facilities, highlighting serious gaps in access to treatment and the need to strengthen work with communities...
WHO continues to support countries through strengthened public health surveillance, case management, and prevention measures; provision of essential medical supplies; coordination of field deployments with partners; and support for risk communication and community engagement.
==
COMMENTS (NPW):
1. It is surprising how little we know about people's knowledge of cholera and how to treat it. I did a google search and found no research on this subject (if anyone can find, please send to hifa@hifaforums.org ). I asked ChatGPT, which said:
Knowledge Gaps
Use of ORS: While some know about ORS packets, many don’t know how to prepare them correctly, or may not have access to them.
Homemade solutions: In some places, people do not know that simple sugar-salt-water mixtures can save lives if ORS packets aren’t available.
Antibiotics: Many people either don’t know that antibiotics are sometimes used for severe cholera, or they overestimate their role (thinking antibiotics are the main treatment instead of rehydration).
Danger signs: Recognition of when to seek urgent medical care (severe dehydration, sunken eyes, lethargy, little or no urine) is often poor.
Cultural beliefs: In some communities, cholera may be associated with curses, spirits, or non-scientific explanations, which delays proper treatment.
2. The fact that 25% of patients die before reaching a health facility underlines a point that HIFA noted in relation to the seminal study by Kruk et al (belo) which estimated that 5m people die due to poor quality care in LMICs. This is clearly a major underestimate - a direct enquiry by HIFA to the authors revealed that the figure did not include poor care given in the community without reaching a health facility. Too often, discussions of quality of care ignore the vital importance of care by family and lay caregivers. Their actions are key to survival.
CITATION: Kruk ME, Gage AD, Joseph NT, Danaei G, García-Saisó S, Salomon JA. Mortality due to low-quality health systems in the universal health coverage era: a systematic analysis of amenable deaths in 137 countries. Lancet. 2018 Nov 17;392(10160):2203-2212. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)31668-4. Epub 2018 Sep 5. Erratum in: Lancet. 2018 Nov 17;392(10160):2170. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32337-7. PMID: 30195398; PMCID: PMC6238021.
Best wishes, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org