In Lusaka, ZambiaInside the National Champions Stadium, there are rows of gray lounge chairs. This makeshift hospital hosts victims of a new and very powerful wave of cholera, which is beginning to kill again.

This is neither a new nor a rare occurrence in this forgotten part of the world. In the past two years, more than four thousand people died in Central and Southern Africa and 220,000 were infected. It is the worst wave in the last decade.

UNICEF intervention

Thirteen countries in East and South Africa Since 2023, it has been battling “one of the worst cholera epidemics to ever hit the region,” and among the latest countries to grapple with the disease are Zimbabwe, Zambia And ComorosAnnounceUNICEF In the current situation.

In Zambia, he wrote The New York TimesSince October, 650 people have died and nearly 19,000 have been infected.

“In some countries, 52% of all cases are children under 15 years of ageWhile children under the age of 5 years represent approximately 40% of deaths and 30% of cases.

More than 8.3 million people have access to basic water, sanitation and hygiene supplies, facilitated by UNICEF. More than 26 million vaccine doses delivered Controlling cholera in eight priority countries with high rates of the disease in the region: Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, South Sudan, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

In cooperation with the World Health Organization and other partnersUNICEF It also supported training of frontline health workers and communities on case management and more, with messages reaching 10 million people On health and hygiene measures To prevent cholera, the importance of seeking medical care urgently, especially for children.

What is cholera and how is it transmitted?

Cholera is an acute diarrheal infection caused by bacteria Vibrio cholerae. Its transmission occurs through oral contact, direct or indirect, with feces or contaminated food, and in the most serious cases It can lead to serious dehydration phenomena. In the 19th century, cholera spread several times from its original region around the Ganges Delta to the rest of the world, giving rise to six epidemics (by pandemic we mean an epidemic manifestation of a disease on a very large, even planetary, scale) that have killed millions of people around the world.