Africa is grappling with increasing public health threats amid overstretched resources and persistent gaps in preparedness, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has said. Prof. Yap Boum, Incident Manager for Health Emergencies at Africa CDC, gave the alert during the agency’s weekly virtual press briefing. He gave the alert as the…
He said Africa cannot achieve universal health coverage or pandemic preparedness without the ability to finance, produce, and govern its own health systems and countermeasures. The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has warned of a surge in outbreaks of cholera, Mpox, and Marburg virus disease across the continent, raising concerns about…
Nairobi — Africa is facing the worst cholera outbreak in 25 years, Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director General Jean Kaseya said in an online briefing. According to him, the continent has recorded over 300,000 cholera cases since the beginning of the year, marking a 30% rise from 2024. Kaseya attributed the situation…
Cholera – A Political Challenge that Hits Africa Hardest By Hakainde Hichilema and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus Cholera is not fundamentally a medical challenge, it’s political. The last outbreak of cholera in the United Kingdom was in 1866; the United States has not had an outbreak since 1911. And yet today, outbreaks of cholera are raging…
The World Health Organization (WHO) has published its global cholera statistics for 2024, showing an increase in both the number of people who fell sick and died from the disease. Reported cholera cases rose by 5% and deaths by 50% in 2024 compared to 2023, with more than 6000 people dying from a disease that…
Addis Ababa — The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has warned that cholera remains the leading public health concern in Africa in terms of the number of cases and fatalities. Some 23 cholera-affected African countries have reported a total of 239,754 cases and over 5,274 associated deaths since the beginning of…
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) Africa region, in collaboration with African Union Member States, have launched a Continental Cholera Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan for 2025-2026. The plan, announced by Africa CDC in a LinkedIn post on Friday, seeks to reduce cholera deaths by…
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | August 29, 2025 — The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) launched a six-month 1.0 continental preparedness and response plan against cholera under the leadership of H.E. President Hakainde Hichilema, the African Union Cholera Champion, in Lusaka, Zambia, on 26 August. President…
Some 80,000 children are estimated to be at high risk of cholera in West and Central Africa as the rainy season begins across the region, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Wednesday. “The heavy rains, widespread flooding, and the high level of displacement are all fuelling the risk of cholera transmission and putting the…
Dakar — An estimated 80,000 children are at high risk of cholera, as the rainy season begins across West and Central Africa. The heightened risk of cholera spreading is driven by active outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Nigeria, which raise the threat of cross-border transmission to neighbouring countries. Chad, Republic…
