Kimberly M Thompson, Radboud J Duintjer Tebbens, Claire-Lise Chaignat, Alexandra Hill, Kamran Badizadegan, Alejandro J Costa, Pem Namgyal and Raymond C Hutubessy
The significant annual burden of disease from cholera remains a preventable global tragedy. An oral cholera vaccine (OCV) emergency stockpile represents a good beginning for improved global cholera management, and modeling studies suggest that realizing the greatest impacts of using OCVs for outbreak response depends on national preparedness. Using the stockpile will create opportunities to gain valuable evidence and experience about the potential role and relative cost-effectiveness of OCVs. It is time to see cholera as a serious and preventable global threat worthy of coordinated attention and management, active global surveillance, and increased human and financial resource investments.