Cholera aid for African countries stalled by Iran conflict
By Emma Farge
GENEVA, March 27 (Reuters) - Emergency cholera medical supplies for several African countries have become stuck in a logistical quagmire caused by the Iran war, aid officials told Reuters, raising concerns about preparations ahead of the high-risk rainy season.
The stocks stranded in Dubai warehouses are contingency supplies placed in cholera-prone countries including Chad and Sudan ahead of the rainy months starting from May to curb any future outbreak of the fast-spreading, potentially fatal diarrhoeal disease.
Both the World Health Organization and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies told Reuters that some of their African cholera supplies were stuck in a Dubai backlog. They are trying to either fly them out - at 70% above the normal rate - or buy replacements.
The kits create mini field hospitals for thousands of people with rehydration treatments as well as chlorine to treat sewage and drinking water to prevent further spread.
"We don't know if the kits will come in time and it will be more costly and delayed," the IFRC's Danielle Brouwer said. Five cholera kits to treat 3,000 people a month intended for Chad, which hosts camps for Sudan's war refugees, are among those affected as well as tents for cholera patients in South Sudan, she added.
RELIANT ON IMPORTS
Last year was exceptionally bad for cholera with more than 600,000 cases in 34 countries and 8,000 deaths globally, the WHO said. So far in 2026, the number of cases is down by about 50% versus 2025 but the agency warned against complacency.
"A disruption of the supply chain will have dramatic consequences because we're talking (about) an explosive disease," said WHO's Lorenzo Pezzoli, team lead for epidemic bacterial diseases.
"If you don't have the time or the resources to control it in a matter of days or even hours, you would have an extreme contamination."
With the Strait of Hormuz shut amid Iranian attacks linked to nearly a month of U.S.–Israeli strikes, competition to use alternative overland or air routes is creating congestion and soaring costs, the IFRC said.
Many African countries like Chad do not produce their own medicines and rely fully on imports. One doctor saidthere have been no cholera cases this year so far but that, if they do return, there is only enough medicine for about 100 people in the eastern province of Ouaddai.
(Reporting by Emma Farge; Additional reporting by Mahamat Ramadane in N'Djamena; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
