Nigeria among worst-hit countries as cholera deaths rise 30%

• 548 Nigerians died in 2025 –WHO   •Global death toll hits 7,870, highest since 1999

Nigeria was among the countries worst hit by cholera globally in 2025, with 548 deaths recorded from 24,354 reported cases, as worldwide deaths from the preventable disease rose by about 30 per cent, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has said.

WHO’s latest global disease surveillance report showed that 7,870 people died from cholera in 2025, the highest annual toll reported to the organisation since 1999, despite 451,499 cases being recorded across 47 countries.

Nigeria, Angola, Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen accounted for about 90 per cent of reported cholera cases and deaths worldwide.

Africa recorded the sharpest deterioration, with cases increasing by 34 per cent and deaths rising by 58 per cent compared with 2024.

WHO warned that the actual burden could be higher because many cases and deaths go unreported.

Cholera is caused by Vibrio cholerae, a bacterium spread mainly through food and water contaminated with faeces. It can cause severe diarrhoea and rapid dehydration and may kill within hours if treatment is delayed. More than one in five reported cholera deaths in 2025 occurred outside health facilities, raising concern that many patients failed to receive treatment early enough.

Among patients treated in health facilities, the global case fatality rate remained below one per cent, although 12 countries recorded fatality rates above that benchmark.

Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, said the rising death toll was unacceptable given the availability of effective prevention and treatment measures.

“No one should be dying from cholera today when we have the tools to prevent and treat this disease,” he said.

Ihekweazu said the concentration of cases and deaths in a small number of countries showed where investments in safe water, sanitation and hygiene could have the greatest impact.

WHO also called for stronger disease surveillance, community engagement, vaccination and wider access to quality healthcare.

“There has been progress in cholera vaccination. Global production of oral cholera vaccines more than doubled from about 30 million doses annually in 2022 to approximately 80 million in 2025,” WHO said.