Oxfam East Africa / Flickr cc
Deaths from cholera rose by 30% in 2025, the World Health Organization (WHO) said today.
The 7,870 cholera deaths reported to the WHO represent the highest number since 1999, the organization said. But the 451,499 cholera cases reported last year mark a 20% reduction from 2024.
Just seven countries—Angola, Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan, and Yemen—accounted for 90% of all reported cases and deaths caused by the highly contagious and acute diarrheal infection, which spreads through water and food contaminated by the Vibrio cholerae bacterium. While inadequate sanitation and lack of clean water play a significant role in the spread of the disease, the WHO notes that all seven countries recorded conflict- or disaster-related displacement this year.
Though cholera is treatable with antibiotics, oral rehydration solution, and intravenous fluids, it can quickly become life-threatening if it goes untreated. The WHO said one in five reported deaths occurred outside healthcare facilities.
“No one should be dying from cholera today when we have the tools to prevent and treat this disease,” Chikwe Ihekweazu, MD, executive director of the WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, said in a news release. “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.”
Decline in bacterial meningitis cases
The WHO also highlighted trends in two other diseases in its Weekly Epidemiological Record—bacterial meningitis and plague.
In 2025, 24 of 26 countries in Africa’s meningitis belt reported 21,526 bacterial meningitis cases to the WHO, a 6% decline from 2024. The 971 reported deaths from the infection, which causes inflammation of the tissues surrounding the brain and spinal cord, corresponds to a case-fatality rate of 4.5%. Meningitis deaths were down from 1,397 in 2024, a 30% drop.
From 2019 through 2025, 10 countries reported 3,847 suspected human plague cases and 423 deaths, for a case-fatality rate of 11%. Most cases were reported from the DRC and Madagascar. Plague is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and is primarily transmitted to people by infected fleas.