About the DOVE Project

STOP Cholera: Work Together. Stop Transmission. End Deaths.

Our Mission

The goal of the Stop Cholera website is to ensure that no one dies of cholera and populations at risk of cholera will benefit from effective interventions like early diagnosis, effective treatment, improved water hygiene sanitation (WASH) and the targeted use of cholera vaccine (OCV).The website provides tools and resources to countries and agencies that are dealing with the threat of cholera.

What We Do

The website is based on the work of investigators at Johns Hopkins University who collaborate with partners in many cholera endemic countries like the Global Task Force on Cholera Control (GTFCC), other universities and agencies like the African Centre for Disease Control (AfCDC), the World Health Organization, and UNICEF. We especially focus on…

  • Improving effective use of OCV,
  • Monitoring & evaluation of OCV campaigns,
  • Documenting lessons learned from OCV and WASH strategies; thus, continually improving cholera control programs.
  • Assisting countries improve their surveillance systems to better evaluate their cholera burden,
  • Building laboratory capacity in endemic countries in diagnostics including the use of rapid diagnostics tests as well as molecular diagnostics like whole genome sequencing,
  • Assisting countries to develop and review their National Cholera Control Plans,
  • Providing links to other resources, such as those of the GTFCC, AfCDC, WHO and UNICEF.

Where We Work

JHU investigators (in collaboration with scientists at Harvard University) has partnered with AfCDC to carry out a project called “CholGen.” This is a project with the national laboratories of seven African countries to build capacity for whole genome sequencing of cholera samples. The countries in this project include Nigeria, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia. In addition to the CholGen project, the JHU investigators also collaborate with organization in other Asian and African countries on specific projects related to surveillance or disease control on cholera and other enteric pathogens. These include:

Bangladesh: JHU investigators are collaborating with scientists in Bangladesh to evaluate WASH interventions

Nepal: JHU investigators are collaborating with Group for Technical Assistance (GTA), the International Vaccine Institute and the Ministry of Health to integrate rapid diagnostic tests to enhance cholera surveillance. The goal is to identify cholera hotspots and improve effective use of OCV.

Cameroon: JHU investigators are collaborating with an M.A. Sante to assess the cholera and non-cholera diarrhea burden in the Far North and Littoral Regions of the country. Specific research studies have recently evaluated the immune responses when the two doses of OCV are given with different intervals (2 weeks, 6 months, and 11 months) and even after four years.

Malawi Mozambique and Zambia: JHU investigators are supporting cholera surveillance in this region of southern Africa to understand transmission patterns, especially related to cross border transmission.

Nigeria: JHU is collaborating with the Nigerian Center for Disease Control in Abuja to enhance cholera surveillance and with the Nigerian Institute for Medical Research on detection of Vibrio cholerae in the environmental waters.

Uganda: Since 2015, JHU investigators have been working with the Ministry of Health and Makerere University to facilitate the understanding of cholera transmission in Uganda. This improved understanding has now led to multiple OCV campaigns and the near eradication of cholera from Uganda. The focus now is on rapid detection of imported cases to prevent its spread in the country.

Zambia: Since 2017, JHU investigators have been collaborating with scientists at the Center for Infectious Disease Research Zambia (CIDRZ) to conduct basic and operations research and epidemiological studies. One study evaluated different dose intervals for OCV, and new studies are planned to continue our understanding of cholera immunity.

Funding

Research on cholera and other enteric pathogens is supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and GAVI and is administered through the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.