September 29, 2026 — Countries reported 7,870 cholera deaths to the World Health Organization for 2025, a 30.6% increase from 2024 even as reported cases fell 19.5%. WHO published the figures in its September 29 release, drawing on a new annual report in its Weekly Epidemiological Record. These are reports received by WHO, not a complete count of all cholera infections or deaths worldwide.
What the 2025 data show
Forty-seven countries reported 451,499 cholera cases and 7,870 deaths for 2025. WHO’s annual surveillance report compares that with 560,823 cases and 6,028 deaths reported by 60 countries for 2024. Fewer countries submitted case reports in 2025, which matters when interpreting the decline in reported cases. WHO cautions that many cases go unreported and the true global burden is likely substantially higher.
Seven countries—Angola, Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen—accounted for about 90% of reported cases and deaths, WHO says. The African Region recorded the largest burden, with 245,501 cases and 5,338 deaths. Those are regional surveillance totals, not estimates of every infection.
Why the death increase matters
Cholera can cause severe dehydration and is preventable and treatable. WHO says more than one in five reported deaths occurred outside health facilities, pointing to delayed or unavailable care as an important concern. The organization emphasizes safe water, sanitation, disease surveillance, vaccination and access to treatment as parts of the response. The release does not establish a single cause for the year-over-year rise in deaths.
WHO also says production of oral cholera vaccine doses rose from about 30 million annually in 2022 to about 80 million in 2025. Higher supply can support prevention campaigns, but the agency’s figures do not show that vaccination alone has resolved the outbreaks. AskNovus will place later verified disease updates in its Health News section.
Sources
- WHO news release, September 29, 2026
- WHO Weekly Epidemiological Record, 2025 cholera annual report, published September 25, 2026
Featured image: running tap water photographed by Luis Tosta via Unsplash. It does not depict an affected community.
[…] The CDC also reports that measles, mumps and rubella vaccination coverage among U.S. kindergartners was 92.4% in the 2025–26 school year, below the agency’s 95% community-protection benchmark. It says two MMR doses are 97% effective at preventing measles. Readers looking for vaccination guidance can consult the CDC or their own clinician. For a separate international public-health development, see AskNovus’s report on the WHO’s 2025 cholera data. […]