 March 22nd is observed as World Water Day every year by the United Nations to raise awareness about the lack of access to clean water and the sanitation crisis facing billions of people. Along with this crisis, we see the rise of deadly yet preventable diseases like cholera. The global incidence of cholera has been very low since the 1990s, barring a few countries in Africa and Asia. But since 2021, 23 countries have reported cholera outbreaks, and in 2023 that number has risen to 29. Anna from the People's Health Movement talks about the reasons behind this worrisome trend. So in 2023, we have seen the continuation of a very worrisome trend when it comes to cholera. So in the past year, some countries which didn't have any recorded cholera cases for decades notified the WHO about outbreaks, and this trend seems to be continuing this year. So it's now the number of countries where there is a recorded cholera outbreak has risen to almost 30. And so, as I mentioned, those include countries which have had regular cholera outbreaks occasionally during the year. So for example, Malawi, but we have also seen cases in Lebanon, for example. And that was the first cholera outbreak in decades. And of course, what it shows is that living conditions are deteriorating. And of course, there's also the influence of climate change. But essentially, it's down to having access to safe and portable water, which allows you to drink it, first of all, and then also to wash the food, prepare the food as it should be prepared. And essentially what we are seeing is that hundreds of thousands of people don't have access to this very elementary resource or right. So one of the outbreaks that actually was talked about most in recent months and with good right is the death of Malawi. So as we speak, the number of deaths from cholera in Malawi has passed 1,300. So it's a very large number of people that have lost their lives to something that's actually preventable with very small steps, very simple steps as cholera. And now what we have seen in Malawi, just like in many other places that have been notifying about cholera outbreaks, is that the health system is generally weakened through years of posterity, of savings, of not having enough stuff, and essentially of not having enough very essential equipment for the health system to function. So over the last three years, there has been in the Global North, especially a very big focus on what's going on with pandemics because of the COVID-19 pandemic, of course, but the response has been very like atomized or they have seen it as something that happens once and then you react to this one case and then you solve the problem and it's gone. But it's actually more complicated than that and cholera shows us that. So it's not about the single outbreak that happens. And then you put out the outbreak and it's done. It's essentially about strengthening the health system so it can respond if the outbreak happens, but it should also be able to respond in a way to prevent the outbreak in the first place. So for that, it's essential to have enough money. It's essential to have enough nurses and community health workers. And all these places where we have cholera outbreaks right now don't have those very essential things. So these include Kenya, Malawi, Haiti, also Syria and Lebanon, as I mentioned before. So essentially a lot of people in the Global South are feeling the pressure of this. Cholera has continued to affect the poorest countries, especially those with poor social development, wars, conflicts, and other humanitarian emergencies. How important is it to address the question of inequality when dealing with such health crises? It's essential to address the outbreaks in different ways. So one way, of course, it's again the short term one, which has been again quoted a lot of the last couple of months and includes vaccines. But then if we look a bit beyond that and if we look at what the UN has been saying for decades is also that the world should move forward in providing access to safe, clean and portable water for everyone. And in practice, what we have seen is that this is not happening. So there's no no no movement towards achieving that goal, which was included in the millennium development goals, but also in the sustainable development goals. So essentially what we need to see is, you know, very basic stuff. So just giving enough money to health systems so they can purchase very cheap equipment that can help them deal with with with patients. But also, you know, building water and sanitation infrastructure that's that fits the needs of people and allows them to live with dignity.