Caribbean News
Cholera risk increasing says WHO, $25 Million needed now to cap the surge
By Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, March 2, 2023 – A staggering one billion people or a massive 12.9 percent of the global population across 43 countries are at risk of cholera infection according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Five of the six global regions have cases with full on outbreaks affecting parts of Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. So far India, Pakistan, the Philippines and Syria, among others, are listed as affected by outbreaks.
The current spread of official outbreaks affecting 22 countries has forced the global organization to ask for funding to help with control of the disease for the first time. Should a pandemic ensue vaccines would be in extremely short
Haiti and the Dominican Republic are the two Caribbean countries listed as battling outbreaks; both of them are close neighbors to the Turks and Caicos, a risk that the government has clocked and says it is hatching mitigation strategies.
The Ministry of Health has been instructed by the National Security Council to secure its own batch of cholera vaccines should the country need them. In addition, they are creating a smart screen program to detect cholera in the hundreds of Haitian migrants who continue to brave the seas and try to reach the Turks and Caicos’ shores.
The cholera outbreak is also one of the reasons that a moratorium has been placed on visitor visas to the Turks and Caicos for candidates applying from Haiti.
The WHO has fingered war, poverty, and natural disasters as all fueling poor access to clean water and the leading reasons for the regressive outbreaks.
In fact, the organization says it needs $25 million to help curb the outbreaks and save lives.