WHO reports cholera deaths rose 30% in 2025 to 7,870, highest since 1999

October 2, 2026 at 01:43 PM2 min

This digest was compiled by AI from multiple sources — links to the originals are below.

The World Health Organization reported 451,499 cholera cases and 7,870 deaths globally in 2025, a 30% rise in deaths from 2024 and the highest annual toll since 1999. Seven countries accounted for about 90% of all cases and deaths. The WHO African Region saw cases rise 34% and deaths 58% year-on-year.

Key Facts

In 2025, 47 countries reported 451,499 cholera cases and 7,870 deaths to the WHO, the highest annual death toll since 1999.
Seven countries — Angola, Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen — accounted for about 90% of global cholera cases and deaths.
The WHO African Region recorded a 34% increase in cholera cases and a 58% increase in deaths in 2025 compared with 2024.
Global production of oral cholera vaccines more than doubled from about 30 million doses annually in 2022 to nearly 80 million doses in 2025.
In 2025, the International Coordinating Group approved 71 million vaccine doses for affected countries, including 20 million for preventive vaccination.

Cholera Burden

Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal disease caused by Vibrio cholerae and spreads through faecally contaminated food and water, especially in areas without safe water and sanitation. More than one in five recorded cholera deaths in 2025 occurred outside health facilities, indicating that many patients did not reach timely medical care. Among patients treated in health facilities, the global case fatality rate was below 1%, the benchmark for adequate care, but 12 countries exceeded that threshold in 2025.

Vaccine Supply

Global production of oral cholera vaccines rose from about 30 million doses per year in 2022 to nearly 80 million doses in 2025. The International Coordinating Group approved 71 million doses for affected countries in 2025, including 20 million doses for preventive vaccination campaigns that resumed earlier in the year after a pause of more than three years.

Meningitis Burden

Bacterial meningitis remains a serious high burden for countries in the African meningitis belt, which stretches from Senegal to Ethiopia and regularly experiences epidemics.