Nigeria has been identified among seven countries responsible for about 90 per cent of cholera cases and deaths recorded globally in 2025, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The warning comes as the global health body reported a significant increase in deaths from the preventable disease, with 7,870 people dying from cholera across 47 countries last year.
WHO said the figure represented a 30 per cent increase compared with 2024 and marked the highest annual cholera death toll reported to the organisation since 1999.
Nigeria was listed alongside Angola, Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen as countries that carried the heaviest burden of the disease.
Africa experienced the sharpest deterioration, with cholera cases increasing by 34 per cent and deaths rising by 58 per cent compared with the previous year.
The WHO cautioned that the actual scale of the crisis could be significantly higher because many cholera cases are not reported or detected.
The disease, caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, is primarily transmitted through contaminated food and water. Severe cases can result in rapid dehydration and death within hours when treatment is delayed.
WHO noted that more than 20 per cent of reported cholera deaths in 2025 occurred outside health facilities, raising concerns about delayed access to medical care.
While the global case fatality rate among patients treated in health facilities remained below one per cent, 12 countries recorded rates above the threshold considered acceptable by WHO.
WHO Health Emergencies Programme Executive Director, Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, said the continued loss of lives to cholera demonstrated the need for urgent action.
“No one should be dying from cholera today when we have the tools to prevent and treat this disease,” he said.
The organisation called for greater investment in clean water, sanitation and hygiene, alongside stronger disease surveillance, vaccination, community engagement and access to timely healthcare.
WHO also reported progress in cholera vaccination, noting that global production of oral cholera vaccines increased from about 30 million doses annually in 2022 to approximately 80 million doses in 2025.
However, the organisation stressed that vaccination alone would not eliminate cholera without improvements in water, sanitation, early diagnosis and treatment.
Meanwhile, WHO reported encouraging progress against meningitis in Africa’s meningitis belt.
Twenty-four of the 26 countries in the region recorded 21,526 suspected meningitis cases and 971 deaths in 2025, while comparable data showed a 5.9 per cent decline in reported cases.
WHO attributed significant progress against meningococcal A disease to vaccination, saying the disease has fallen by more than 99 per cent among vaccinated populations since the introduction of the meningococcal A conjugate vaccine in 2010.
The agency, however, warned that plague remains a public health concern, with 3,847 suspected cases and 423 deaths reported across 10 countries between 2019 and 2025.
