The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has raised concern over rising cholera outbreaks in Chad and other conflict-affected countries, stressing that humanitarian crises fuel the spread of disease across borders.

The deputy incident manager of the incident management support team at Africa CDC, Yap Boum, said this during a virtual press briefing on Friday.

Mr Boum disclosed that in Chad, cholera outbreaks in refugee camps have rapidly spread to communities such as Chokoyan and Adid, driven largely by insecurity, displacement, and inadequate sanitation.

“What the Chad region has been experiencing is that cholera is happening in the refugee camp, which has spread to Chokoyan, Ouaddaï province, and other places.

“The main driver is that there is no peace. They border Sudan, where there is conflict. You have the mass refugee influx, which leads to overcrowding the camp with unsafe water and sanitation,” he stated.

He warned that “there is no health without peace”,  adding that the humanitarian fallout from Sudan’s conflict has worsened the outbreak in Chad.

He said that the sharp rise in cholera cases has been matched by a parallel increase in deaths.

“Urgent support is needed in surveillance, access to safe water, and case management to reduce mortality,” he advised.

In contrast, he said that Ethiopia has recorded progress, with cases dropping by 75 per cent, from 191 to 47, while deaths remained stable at two to three.

He said that the hotspots remain along the Gambela border and in the Amhara region, where population movement, use of “holy water”, and conflict-related displacement have contributed to multiple waves of the outbreak.

He stated that expanding oral cholera vaccination (OCV) campaigns in new hotspots such as Amhara was critical to sustaining the decline.

Regarding mpox, he stated that the agency reported a 76 per cent decline from peak levels, particularly in Guinea, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Burundi, and Liberia, although cases were increasing in Guinea and remained stable in Kenya.

“Isolation strategies, which proved effective in Burundi, are recommended for other affected countries. So far, over one million Mpox vaccine doses have been deployed, though three million more are required to achieve continent-wide protection,” he said.

He also announced upcoming high-level meetings: the Emergency Coordination Group on September 2 to review mpox status in Africa, and the International Health Regulations review by WHO on September 4 to determine whether the Mpox emergency should remain in effect.

Looking ahead, he said that lessons from Mpox would inform the cholera response, with both now integrated under the Incident Management System Team.

He stated that at least 10 million cholera vaccine doses are urgently needed over the next six months, alongside sustained surveillance, adequate financing, and strong political leadership to prevent and end cholera outbreaks.

(NAN)