Overlooking clean water’s vital role in preventing Cholera - amid record deaths - is a devastating mistake says WaterAid

Cholera, a deadly yet preventable disease, could be stopped in its tracks if governments around the world prioritised clean water and better hygiene in hotspot communities, says the international charity WaterAid.  

The demand by the charity to make clean water a priority comes as the World Health Organisation reports a 71% increase in deaths from cholera in 2023 compared to the previous year, with Africa experiencing a 125% increase in cholera cases.  

WaterAid’s Health Policy Analyst Irene Owusu-Poku said:  

“No one should die from cholera, an entirely preventable disease.  

“Yet WHO confirmed this week a 71% rise in the number of deaths from the disease last year compared with 2022. This is a tragedy, both in terms of health and as a profound collective failure to ensure that basic, life-saving solutions like clean water and sanitation reach everyone, everywhere.  

“With climate change making the situation worse by the day, triggering floods that disrupt water sources and spread infection, immediate action and sustainable investment in clean water, sanitation and hygiene have never been so important.  

“By making clean water, sanitation and hygiene provision a priority for governments around the world, across all health budgets and policies - we can stop deadly bacterial diseases like Cholera in its tracks and save millions of lives – failure to do so would be a devastating mistake.” 

ENDS

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Notes to editors

About WaterAid

WaterAid is an international not-for-profit determined to make clean water, decent toilets and good hygiene normal for everyone, everywhere within a generation. We work alongside communities in 22 countries to secure these three essentials that transform people’s lives. Since 1981, WaterAid has reached 28 million people with clean water and nearly 29 million people with decent toilets.

For more information, visit our website wateraid.org; follow us on Twitter @WaterAidUK, @WaterAid or @WaterAidPress; or find us on Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram.

• 703 million people in the world – almost one in ten – don’t have clean water close to home.
• 2.2 billion people in the world – more than one in four – don’t have safe water.
• 1.5 billion people in the world – almost one in five – don’t have a decent toilet of their own.
• Almost 400,000 children under five die every year due to diseases caused by unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene. That's more than 1000 children a day, or almost one child every one and a half minutes.²

1: WHO/UNICEF (2023), Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2022: special focus on gender (accessed 11 Jul 2023)

2: WHO (2023), Burden of disease attributable to unsafe drinking-water, sanitation and hygiene: 2019 update (accessed 24 Jul 2023)

3: WaterAid (2021), Mission-critical: Invest in water, sanitation and hygiene for a healthy and green economic recovery (accessed 1 Nov 2023).