By Brian Kiprono - Reporter
December 21 2025 - Africa is facing a renewed and dangerous surge in cholera, with infections more than doubling across the continent this year, prompting urgent calls for political leadership beyond the health sector.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) says more than 310,000 cholera cases have been recorded so far in 2025, alongside nearly 3,000 additional deaths in 25 countries. The figures mark a sharp escalation of a disease long associated with unsafe water, poor sanitation and fragile public services.
Behind the statistics are families and communities bearing the brunt of a preventable illness. According to Africa CDC, five countries — South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Angola, Nigeria and Sudan — account for almost 88 per cent of all reported cases this year. The deadliest toll has been concentrated in Sudan, the DRC, South Sudan and Angola, which together represent more than 85 percent of cholera-related deaths.
Cholera, an acute diarrhoeal disease caused by ingesting food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, can kill within hours if left untreated. Symptoms often include severe diarrhoea, vomiting and rapid dehydration, though some infected people may show no signs at all — making outbreaks harder to detect and contain.
Alarmed by the scale of the crisis, African leaders have now elevated cholera to a continental political priority. Africa CDC has launched a unified task force and rolled out a new strategy that reframes cholera as more than a medical emergency. Instead, the agency is urging governments to treat it as a failure of leadership, infrastructure and water and sanitation systems.
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“Cholera thrives where clean water and safe sanitation are absent,” the agency warned, noting that health interventions alone will not stop the disease if underlying conditions remain unchanged.
Globally, cholera continues to pose a major public health threat, causing up to four million cases and as many as 143,000 deaths each year. In Africa, recurrent outbreaks also undermine development, disrupt livelihoods and strain already stretched health systems.
Africa CDC is calling on governments to strengthen disease surveillance, invest in safe water and sanitation, and improve rapid response capacity at community level. Without coordinated and sustained action, the agency cautioned, cholera will remain a deadly reminder of the cost of neglecting basic public services across the continent.
