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official data (WHO news release, 29 Sep 2026 · Weekly Epidemiological Record WER 101-38 — annual cholera report 2025, African meningitis belt 2025, human plague 2019–2025)

WHO: 2025 cholera deaths highest since 1999 — plague still kills 11% of reported cases

Origin Lane: fractureWHO HQ, Geneva (pin: seat, not incident site) · Global surveillance (WHO) — seven countries carry ~90% of cholera: Angola, Bangladesh, DRC, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan, Yemen · plague mostly DRC and MadagascarBy the Doom Signals desk

Globe pin: WHO headquarters, 20 Avenue Appia, Geneva — 46.2327°N, 6.1342°E (OpenStreetMap way 14363861, “Organisation mondiale de la Santé”). The pin marks the issuing agency’s seat, not an outbreak site; the report covers global surveillance.

The World Health Organization said Monday that 47 countries reported 451,499 cholera cases and 7,870 cholera deaths in 2025 — deaths up 30 percent even as reported cases fell, and the highest annual cholera death total reported to WHO since 1999 — while the same Weekly Epidemiological Record counts 3,847 suspected human plague cases and 423 plague deaths from 2019 to 2025, a case fatality rate of 11 percent.

Cholera 2025 (WHO)
47 countries reported 451,499 cases and 7,870 deaths — the highest number of annual cholera deaths reported to WHO since 1999
Trend
Deaths up 30% in 2025 despite fewer cases being reported · WHO African Region: cases +34%, deaths +58% vs 2024
Concentration
Angola, Bangladesh, the DRC, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen — around 90% of reported cases and deaths
Largest 2025 counts (WER 101-38)
Yemen 93,463 cases / 246 deaths · South Sudan 79,480 / 1,258 · Sudan 73,597 / 2,161 · DRC 71,168 / 2,071 · Angola 36,341 / 895 · Nigeria 24,354 / 548 · Bangladesh 22,709 / none reported
Access to care
More than one in five reported cholera deaths occurred outside health facilities · facility fatality below the 1% threshold globally, but above 1% in 12 countries
Floor, not ceiling
WHO: surveillance reports, not the actual burden — estimated to be substantially higher as many cases go unreported
Plague 2019–2025 (WHO)
10 countries reported suspected human plague, six with confirmed cases · 3,847 suspected cases, 423 deaths, case fatality 11% · mostly DRC and Madagascar, where plague remains endemic in some areas
Meningitis belt 2025
24 of 26 countries reported 21,526 suspected cases and 971 deaths (4.5% fatality) · cases −5.9% where both years reported
Vaccine
Oral cholera vaccine output ~30 million → ~80 million doses a year (2022–2025) · ICG approved 71 million doses last year, 20 million for preventive campaigns, resumed this year after a suspension of more than three years
Live later
Next WHO multi-country cholera update · any named 2026 plague outbreak product → fracture HUD — no invented 2026 global total

No one should be dying from cholera today when we have the tools to prevent and treat this disease.

Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme — WHO, 29 Sep 2026

WHO’s annual ledger just set a new floor. In a Monday release tied to Weekly Epidemiological Record 101-38, the agency said 47 countries reported 451,499 cholera cases and 7,870 deaths in 2025: deaths up 30 percent even as reported cases fell, and the highest annual cholera death toll reported to WHO since 1999. Seven countries — Angola, Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan and Yemen — carried about 90 percent of the load, and the African Region saw deaths up 58 percent on 2024. More than one in five reported cholera deaths happened outside a health facility. WHO says these are surveillance reports, and the real burden is substantially higher.

The same package counts 3,847 suspected human plague cases and 423 deaths from 2019 through 2025, a case fatality rate of 11 percent, mostly in the DRC and Madagascar, and 971 deaths from 21,526 suspected meningitis cases across the African belt in 2025. Dr Chikwe Ihekweazu, head of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme, said no one should be dying from cholera when the tools exist. This is the global annual count, separate from the boarded Yemen and DRC Ebola cards. The next WHO update goes to the HUD.

Why it matters

More cholera dead in one year than WHO has recorded since 1999, with fewer cases reported — people are dying before they reach care. And the same ledger still carries plague killing about one in nine of the people it is reported in.

Sources

Primary + secondary attribution as listed.

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