Nigeria Among Countries Behind Global Cholera Surge, WHO Warns

(WHO. Photo by The Whistler Newspaper)

Nigeria is one of seven countries that made up about 90 percent of cholera cases and deaths reported worldwide in 2025, according to the World Health Organisation.

Its latest disease surveillance report, released on Tuesday, shows 7,870 people died from cholera last year, a 30 percent jump from 2024.

There were 451,499 cases across 47 countries, and the death toll was the highest recorded by WHO in a single year since 1999.

The other hardest hit countries are Angola, Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen.

Africa fared worst, with cases up 34 percent and deaths up 58 percent.

WHO warned that the real picture may be worse because many cases never get reported.

Cholera is caused by a bacterium spread mainly through food and water contaminated with faeces.

It brings severe diarrhoea and fast dehydration that can kill within hours if treatment is late.

WHO said more than one in five cholera deaths in 2025 happened outside health facilities, which means many patients did not get care in time.

Among those treated in facilities, the global death rate stayed below one percent, which WHO sees as a sign of good care, but 12 countries went above that level.

WHO Health Emergencies Programme Executive Director Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu said nobody should die of cholera today when the tools to prevent and treat it exist.

He said the concentration of cases in a few countries shows where investment in clean water, sanitation and hygiene will matter most.

WHO also called for stronger surveillance, community engagement, vaccination and access to quality care.

It noted that global production of oral cholera vaccines more than doubled from about 30 million doses a year in 2022 to about 80 million in 2025, but stressed that vaccines alone cannot end the disease.

There was better news on meningitis. In 2025, 24 of the 26 countries in Africa's meningitis belt reported 21,526 suspected cases and 971 deaths.

Among countries with comparable data, cases fell by 5.9 percent.

WHO said the meningococcal A vaccine, introduced in 2010, has cut the disease by more than 99 percent among vaccinated people, and no confirmed case of that type has been reported since 2017 in countries that introduced it.

WHO also warned that plague is still a threat, with 3,847 suspected cases and 423 deaths reported across 10 countries between 2019 and 2025.