Maputo, Mozambique — Mozambique has asked the World Health Organization to supply an additional 2 million doses of a cholera vaccine as the country struggles to control a spreading outbreak.
The agency said the worst cholera outbreaks to hit the region in years, are now unfolding in Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Cholera has been reported in 12 of Africa’s 54 countries. South Africa, Tanzania and Zimbabwe are the latest to detect cases. Malawi, with hundreds of cholera deaths, faces its worst outbreak ever.
The WHO said in a statement on Thursday that Malawi's current outbreak was the deadliest on record, worse than ones in 1998/99 and 2001/02 that saw 860 and 968 deaths respectively.
The acting director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Ahmed Ogwell, told journalists on Thursday that the agency is working with the World Health Organization and the vaccine alliance GAVI on ways to obtain more doses.
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