A health worker attending to a patient at Tukombo Health Centre in Nkhatabay, Malawi. (Photo: UNICEF).

A cholera outbreak in Malawi has killed more than 1,200 people, the World Health Organization announced on Thursday.

WHO says the outbreak in Malawi is the deadliest in years and urges for strong interventions to prevent the situation from worsening.

The southern African country has carried out two large vaccination campaigns, since the outbreak began in 2022, according to Africanews.

But limited supplies prompted the authorities to offer just one of the usually recommended two oral cholera vaccine doses.

There are reports that the country’s health ministry has run out of all cholera vaccine doses as number of cases increased at 143 percent in January.

Cholera, a waterborne disease which causes diarrhoea and vomiting, is contracted from a bacterium that is generally transmitted through contaminated food or water.