The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) says it has recorded more than 65,000 suspected cases of cholera across 35 states and about 195 Local Government Areas (LGAs) this year alone.
Director-General of the Agency, Dr Jide Idris, disclosed this during a press briefing on the current cholera and diphtheria outbreaks in Abuja on Friday.
Dr. Idris however, said weekly cholera cases had declined substantially from the peak recorded earlier in the year, while the proportion of cases resulting in death was significantly lower than during the corresponding period last year.
He cautioned that the decline should not be interpreted as the end of the outbreak, warning that cholera transmission remained active and could worsen as the rainy season continues.
“Our experience in recent years shows that cholera transmission can peak between late August and October. We are also still in the rainy season, and flooding remains an important risk because it can contaminate water sources and overwhelm sanitation systems,” he said.
He further stated that the country must consolidate the gains recorded so far and prevent a resurgence of cases.
According to him, one of the clearest lessons from the outbreak was the importance of early access to treatment, noting that outcomes had improved in Borno State, which recorded the majority of the cases, where treatment was brought closer to affected communities.
The Director General identified unsafe water, open defecation, damaged water distribution systems, poor hygiene infrastructure and inadequate sanitation in schools, markets and other public institutions as persistent drivers of cholera transmission.
He therefore maintained that sustained interventions in water, sanitation and hygiene, environmental health and community behaviour were needed to prevent recurrent outbreaks.
On diphtheria, he disclosed that Nigeria had recorded more than 10,000 confirmed cases this year, although the case fatality rate had declined considerably compared with the same period in 2025.
He said most confirmed diphtheria cases were concentrated in Kano, Borno and Bauchi states, attributing the continuing burden largely to inadequate vaccination coverage.
“The central issue is that too many children remain unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated. Vaccine hesitancy, insecurity, hard-to-reach communities, displacement and population movement make it more difficult to reach every child who needs protection,” he said.
Idris stressed that diphtheria was vaccine-preventable and urged intensified efforts to identify and vaccinate children who had missed recommended doses.
The DG said the NCDC was coordinating the national response with state governments and partners through strengthened surveillance and laboratory capacity, support for case management and infection prevention and control, community engagement, and the deployment of National Rapid Response Teams to affected states.
He also said oral cholera vaccination had been implemented in high-burden areas, while water chlorination, rehabilitation of water sources and hygiene promotion were continuing in affected communities.
In Borno, he said NCDC teams had investigated transmission sources and assessed water supply points to identify gaps in water quality, sanitation and chlorination, while in Bauchi, oral rehydration points had been established, treatment capacity strengthened and active case searches intensified.
For diphtheria, he said reactive vaccination was being conducted in affected areas, alongside the provision of essential treatment and laboratory commodities.
Idris, however, stressed that the Federal Government alone could not end the outbreaks, urging states and local governments to provide the human, material and financial resources required to sustain interventions.
He called for improved access to safe water and sanitation, water-quality monitoring, the repair of critical water infrastructure, the elimination of open defecation, and functional treatment and rapid-response capacity in high-risk LGAs.
On vaccination, he urged states to strengthen routine immunisation and targeted vaccination, particularly in affected, underserved and hard-to-reach communities.
