Democratic Republic of the Congo

Reported meningitis deaths in Africa's meningitis belt fell about 30% in 2025, while most human plague cases came from Madagascar and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to WHO's latest data on meningitis and plague. The figures appeared on 29 September 2026 in the agency's Weekly Epidemiological Record, alongside its annual cholera report. The meningitis and plague reviews sit beside the cholera report and share one difficulty with it: the counts depend on which countries report. WHO says so itself, cautioning that the drop in meningitis cases cannot be read as an equal fall in disease burden. Meningitis in Africa's belt: deaths down, cases hard to compare In 2025, 24 of the 26 countries in WHO's enhanced surveillance network sent data, reporting 21,526 suspecte...

Cholera deaths reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) rose about 30% in 2025 to 7,870, the highest annual toll since 1999, even though reported cases went down. WHO published the figures on 29 September 2026 in its Weekly Epidemiological Record, drawing on 47 countries that together reported 451,499 cases. Reading the trends in cholera cases and cholera deaths together requires care. Reported cases fell 19.5% from 560,823 in 2024, but 60 countries reported cases that year and only 47 did in 2025. WHO says the totals reflect what surveillance systems captured, not the true burden. Its estimate for endemic countries, listed on its cholera fact sheet, is 1.3 million to 4.0 million cases and 21,000 to 143,000 deaths a year. Why cholera deaths rose in 2025 while reported cases fe...

Tag: Democratic Republic of the Congo

Meningitis Deaths Fell About 30% in Africa’s Belt in 2025, While Plague Stays Concentrated

Cholera Deaths Reach Highest Reported Level Since 1999 Even as Case Counts Fall