A global shortage of oral cholera vaccines is over as the UN has announced that the supply will double this year to around six million doses.
The UN Health Agency announced on Friday that the 2016 supply of oral cholera vaccines (OCV) is planned to double from last year’s shortage, bringing the total number to around six million doses. Later increases in this number are also anticipated.
According to the UN, cholera is a disease that kills up to 142,000 people annually. The news of an increase number of OCV’s which stand to combat the disease comes after last year’s global shortage.
Because of this shortage, Sudan and Haiti’s requests that the UN World Health Organization supply their countries with more vaccines for pre-emptive campaigns went unanswered.
The new producer of the vaccine, a company in the Republic of Korea, was approved by the UN World Health Organization’s pre-qualification program, which seeks to make sure that drugs and vaccines of this nature meet acceptable quality standards and are safe to use.
Such an increase in the number of OCV’s will help turn the tide on the vicious cycle the vaccine has been experiencing — low demand meaning low production; high price meaning inadequate distribution.
The greater number of vaccines stands to create a new cycle of increased demand, increased production, reduced price and wider access.
Worldwide, there is typically between 1.4 million and 4.3 million cases of cholera per year, with up to 142,000 deaths. While cholera is endemic in over 50 countries, the deadly disease typically only picks up any global attention during outbreaks and emergencies.
The increasing frequency of recent cholera outbreaks has been attributed to the El Nino, which causes droughts and floods in various parts of the world.
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