Geneva — Cholera deaths increased globally by 30 percent in 2025, despite fewer cases being reported to the World Health Organization, with five countries in Africa accounting for around 90 percent of all cases, the WHO said on Tuesday.
In 2025, 47 countries reported 451,499 cholera cases and 7,870 deaths to the Geneva-based WHO, the health agency of the United Nations, which also released data on meningitis and the plague.
This is the highest number of annual cholera deaths reported to WHO since 1999.
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“No one should be dying from cholera today when we have the tools to prevent and treat this disease,” said Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, executive director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme.
WHO said the figures reflect surveillance data reported and not the actual global burden of cholera, which is estimated to be substantially higher as many cases go unreported.
Seven countries – Angola, Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen – accounted for around 90 percent of all reported cholera cases and deaths globally.
Cholera deaths soared in Africa
The WHO African region reported the largest burden, with a 34 percent increase in cases and a 58 percent increase in deaths compared with 2024.
Dr Ihekweazu said that the concentration of cases and deaths in a small number of countries shows where targeted investments in safe water, sanitation and hygiene could have the greatest impact.
“Combined with stronger disease surveillance, community engagement, vaccination and access to quality care, these investments can help turn this trend around,” said Ihekweazu.
Cholera is an acute diarrhoeal disease caused by Vibrio cholerae bacteria. The disease spreads through food and water contaminated with faeces, especially in areas without safe water and sanitation.
The WHO said that while cholera is preventable and treatable, it can be fatal if severe dehydration is not rapidly treated.
More than one in five reported cholera deaths occurred outside health facilities, highlighting that too many patients are still not reaching care in time.
Meningitis from Senegal to Ethiopia
Regarding bacterial meningitis, the WHO said that the disease continues to place a substantial burden on countries in the African meningitis belt, an area extending from Senegal to Ethiopia where epidemics occur regularly.
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In 2025, 24 of the 26 countries in the region reported 21,526 suspected cases and 971 deaths to WHO, corresponding to a fatality rate of 4.5 percent.
Among countries reporting data for both years, cases declined by 5.9 percent compared with the previous year.
Meningitis involves inflammation of the tissues surrounding the brain and spinal cord, and bacterial meningitis is the most serious type.
For human plague, the WHO said that between 2019 and 2025, 10 countries reported suspected human plague cases, six of which reported confirmed cases.
Overall, 3,847 suspected cases and 423 deaths were reported to WHO, corresponding to a case fatality rate of 11 percent.
Most cases were reported from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Madagascar, where plague remains endemic in some areas.