WHO EPI-WIN : Detect, Monitor, Respond: Practical Innovations in Cholera Surveillance

Background

Cholera remains a major global epidemic threat and a marker of inequity in access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene, with over 500,000 cases and 7,000 deaths reported in 2025 across 32 countries. Effective surveillance is essential for early detection and response, but is often limited by underreporting, delays, weak systems, and fragile settings. Strengthening surveillance through improved data workflows, regional monitoring, and innovative methods can support earlier, more effective interventions.

Objectives 

• To highlight practical innovations in cholera surveillance and discuss how they strengthen early detection, risk assessment, and outbreak response.
• To explore WHO’s global cholera data system, surveillance experience from the Eastern Mediterranean Region, field adaptations in Sudan, and emerging evidence on the use of serology to better understand cholera dynamics.

Agenda and Speakers

Welcome remarks: Why cholera surveillance innovation matters now:  Maria Van Kerkhove, Director a.i.,Epidemic and Pandemic Management, WHO Health Emergencies Programme (WHE)

From fragmented data to global intelligence: WHO's cholera surveillance workflow, Rocio Escobar, GIS Analyst, Epidemic Alert and Response, WHE

Cholera surveillance in EMRO: regional risks, constraints and innovations: Muhammad Tayyab, Medical Officer, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Outbreak Control, WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean

Surveillance under pressure: lessons from Sudan's cholera response: Sara Omer Makki Mohamed Ahmed ,Epidemiologist WHO Sudan Country Office

Rethinking cholera risk: what serology reveals beyond case data: Sonia Hegde, Assistant Scientist, Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Interactive Q&A with speakers