Global deployment of rapid diagnostic tests to boost fight against cholera
More than 1.2 million cholera test kits will be shipped to 14 countries in largest-ever global deployment
Countries that will receive rapid diagnostic test (RDT) kits in the coming weeks include those currently severely impacted by cholera outbreaks, such as Ethiopia, Somalia, Syria, and Zambia.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), this programme will improve the timeliness and accuracy of outbreak detection and response by boosting routine surveillance and testing capacity as well as helping to rapidly identify probable cholera cases. It will also help countries monitor trends and build an evidence base for future preventative programmes.
The global cholera diagnostics programme is funded and coordinated by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), with procurement and delivery to countries led by UNICEF, and undertaken in collaboration with the Global Task Force on Cholera Control (GTFCC), and WHO. It was developed in partnership with FIND, the global alliance for diagnostics, which led development of a target product profile describing the required characteristics of cholera RDTs, and other organisations.
Through this effort, RDTs from two manufacturers – which have to-date been supplied via WHO and UNICEF for use in outbreak response – will now be used routinely for cholera surveillance. Pilot studies across the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Niger and Nepal, funded by Gavi and led by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Johns Hopkins University and Epicentre/Médecins Sans Frontières have helped increase understanding of effective rapid testing strategies.
Aurélia Nguyen, Chief Programme Officer at Gavi, commented: “We are experiencing an unprecedented multi-year upsurge in cholera cases worldwide … The rise in infections is being driven by continued gaps in access to safe water and sanitation, and our inability to reach vulnerable communities that are being put further at risk by climate change, conflict, and displacement.
“Routine use of diagnostics will bolster cholera surveillance in impacted countries, and must be leveraged to better target vaccination efforts, which play a critical role in multisectoral cholera prevention and control programmes.”
In February, at least 15 people on the Norwegian Dawn cruise ship were held in isolation with a stomach illness authorities suspected to have been cholera.