Cholera is back to haunt Odisha again. One thought the 2007 outbreak—the largest in the last two decades—was a thing of the past, but the latest recurrence has déjà vu written all over it. Scores of villages in at least five districts reported daily incidence.
Over a dozen persons have succumbed to it to date. Of course, the official numbers are lower. It began in Rayagada, the district at the epicentre of the outbreak 15 years ago, before the water-borne disease spread to neighbouring districts. Tribal-dominated regions, where the social indicators are not flattering, have again borne the brunt of this year’s outbreak, exposing gaping holes in the State’s healthcare delivery system. The administration was found wanting and swung into action only when people began to die of the disease. Cholera is endemic to Odisha, and Vibrio cholera, the bacteria responsible for it, has reported multiple strains across various districts in past years.
A research paper published by the Cambridge University Press last year revealed that the State reported at least 30 outbreaks between 2000 and 2014. The worst was in 2007 when it affected just 8,000-odd people but claimed 162 lives. In 2014, over 46,000 people were infected. A disease that once was associated with India’s impoverished state during the British Raj, cholera’s outbreak in 2022 does not sit well with Odisha, which aspires to climb up the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) ladder. In the World Health Organisation’s words, the disease remains a global threat to public health and an indicator of inequity and lack of social development.
Much as it is about poor health care delivery, cholera has focused on access to safe drinking water and sanitation practices which is why its recurrence in districts predominantly inhabited by tribal communities shows the State’s social sectors in poor light. The government may have been bragging about its model health insurance or drink-from-tap schemes, but it has much work to do to ensure safe drinking water for people at the farthest mile and prevent the loss of lives from this easily preventable disease.