WHO warns of Deepening global Cholera crisis

The World Health Organisation has issued warning against global cholera crisis. The cholera is deepening, with deaths rising sharply despite fewer reported cases, as conflict, climate disasters, and poverty fuel surges across Africa and the Middle East.

WHO disclosed this in a statement on its website that between January and mid-August 2025, at least 4,738 people died from cholera and Acute Watery Diarrhoea (AWD) across 31

While overall cases fell by 20% compared to the same period last year, deaths climbed by a staggering 46%, exposing what the agency called “serious gaps in case management and delayed access to care.”

The situation is most dire in Africa, which accounted for more than 3,700 deaths and a case fatality rate of 2.2% — more than double the global threshold of 1% that signals an emergency.

Countries such as Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo remain at the epicentre of the crisis, where fragile health systems are buckling under the weight of expanding outbreaks.

“Safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene are the only long-term and sustainable solutions to ending this cholera emergency and preventing future ones,” WHO said, warning that the risk of further spread across borders remains “very high.”

The agency linked the worsening fatality rate to conflict-driven displacement, flooding, and collapsing infrastructure in already fragile states.