Speech of the WHO Representative to Bangladesh, Dr Ahmed Jamsheed Mohamed, at the National Launch of the Preventive Oral Cholera Vaccination Campaign 2026, Nagar Bhaban Auditorium, Dhaka South City Corporation, Dhaka.

His Excellency, Sardar Md Sakhawat Hossain, Hon’ble Minister, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare;

Prof. Dr. Prabhat Chandra Biswas, Director General, Directorate General of Health Services; 

Ms Sheikh Momena Moni, Additional Secretary, Health Services Division, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare;

Ms. Gillian Mellsop, Representative ad interim, UNICEF in Bangladesh;

Dr Firdausi Qadri, Senior Scientist, icddr,b; 

Md. Habibur Rahman Khan, Secretary General, IFRC, Bangladesh; 

Dr. Md. Halimur Rashid, Director, Disease Control;

Distinguished government officials, partners and friends,

It is an honour to join you today for the launch of Bangladesh’s Preventive Oral Cholera Vaccination Campaign 2026.

I thank the Government of Bangladesh and all partners who have made this campaign possible.

Today is about vaccination. But it is also about something larger: acting before people become sick, protecting those most at risk, and using evidence to prevent disease rather than waiting to respond to it.

Cholera is preventable and treatable. And yet it continues to claim far too many lives.

WHO estimates that 2.9 million cases occur each year in endemic countries, causing approximately 95 000 deaths. Around 1.3 billion people remain at risk, with much of the burden concentrated in Africa and South Asia.

But cholera is not only a disease. It is also a sign of inequity.

It thrives where people lack safe water and sanitation; where overcrowding and population movement increase vulnerability; and where climate and environmental pressures compound existing risks.

That is why controlling cholera is both a public health imperative and a development imperative.

Bangladesh knows this well. It also knows what works.