By: Getahun Tsegaye
Staff Writer
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia-The Amhara Region has confirmed a cholera outbreak in Jawie District, Awi Zone. The health office in the region released a report confirming an outbreak of Acute Watery Diarrhoea (AWD) in Jawie District.
According to the Jawie District Health Office Head, Menber Girma, the movement of people coming from Bahir Dar’s Andasa area, where cases had already been reported, is responsible for that outbreak. “The outbreak seems to have transmitted with the travelling of persons from affected areas,” he stated.
So far, 25 people are admitted at the Jawie Primary Hospital; meanwhile, a mobile medical response team is deployed to give health care services in affected areas. An additional team of eight healthcare workers is sent to the district to fight against treatment efforts and community awareness campaigns on cholera prevention.
But efforts are underway to nip the outbreak in the bud and stop its spread to other areas. “We are taking all necessary precautions to stop further transmission,” Menber Girma added.
Thus, this outbreak of the cholera, in Jawie District, coincides with the increasing cholera crisis involving more regions of Ethiopia.
Five reported dead within a period of two months in a cholera outbreak in Qwara District, in West Gondar Zone of the Amhara region. The International Medical Corps stated that from January 3 until February 18, 2025, over 270 new cases were recorded. Cholera has already reported cases in 60 out of the country’s 16 zones, with 4983 cases and 90 deaths being registered since its first case was registered in July 2023, according to the international organization.
Concerning similar incidents that occurred in Ethiopia, it is recognized that at least 14 casualties had been recorded in the south of Gambella region since February, with 200 or more instances reported stating “in Nuer Zone”. The spread of the disease made the health officials initiate a vaccination campaign which is projected to achieve one million heath seekers.
At the launch ceremony of the campaign on March 29, Health Minister Dr. Mekdes Daba reiterated that cholera outbreaks require a coordinated response. “A comprehensive national strategy is in place to prevent and control both communicable and non-communicable diseases,” she said.
Early prevention and surveillance are essential according to Dr. Mesay Hailu, Director General of the Ethiopian Public Health Institute: “With the beginning of the rains we are intensifying efforts to prevent and control cholera outbreaks in collaboration with regional governments and partners.”
The UN has given a warning that the worsening cholera situation in Gambella is deteriorating. As of March 8, 2025, the United Nations estimated that it had recorded 1,320 cases and 29 deaths, with a case fatality rate of 2.2%. Beginning from four districts in the Nuer Zone, this outbreak has already spread to other parts, including refugee camps sheltering displaced people due to conflict from South Sudan.
Doctors Without-Borders (MSF) was another humanitarian organization that raised alarms towards the worsening crisis. MSF reported, in a statement dated March 31, that the situation was rapidly deteriorating at the Ethiopia-South Sudan border, with thousands of displaced people arriving for safety.
Elsewhere, with cholera cases still climbing across Ethiopia, health authorities and humanitarian organizations are making frantic bids to avert further deaths and contain the outbreak.
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