Health
NCDC warns Nigerians as Cholera cases surpass 65,000 in 2026
Nigeria has recorded more than 65,000 suspected cases of cholera across 35 states and approximately 195 local government areas this year, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC).
The NCDC Director-General, Jide Idris, disclosed this on Friday at a press briefing in Abuja, noting that weekly cholera cases had declined substantially from the peak recorded earlier in the year.
However, Mr Idris said the decline in cases should not be interpreted as the end of the outbreak.
“The encouraging news is that weekly cases have declined substantially from the peak recorded earlier in the season. The proportion of reported cases resulting in death is also considerably lower than it was at the same time last year,” he said.
“This is important progress. But I want to be very clear: the outbreak is not over.
Cholera transmission
Mr Idris said the country is still in the rainy season, when cholera transmission can increase because flooding may contaminate water sources and overwhelm sanitation systems.
He said one of the clearest lessons from the outbreak is the importance of early access to treatment, noting that people who seek care early have better outcomes.
“In Borno State, where the majority of this year’s cases have occurred, outcomes have been better where treatment has been brought closer to affected communities,” he said.
However, he said treatment alone could not end the outbreak. “But the data are telling us something equally important: while treatment saves lives, we cannot treat our way out of cholera.”
According to the NCDC boss, unsafe water, open defecation, damaged water distribution systems, poor hygiene infrastructure, and inadequate sanitation in schools, markets, and other public institutions remain among the underlying problems driving transmission.
He called on state and local governments to improve access to safe water and sanitation, strengthen water-quality monitoring, repair critical water infrastructure and address open defecation.
He also urged authorities to ensure that high-risk local government areas have functional treatment and rapid-response capacity.
Diphtheria
Mr Idris also disclosed that Nigeria has recorded more than 10,000 confirmed cases of diphtheria this year.
He said while the disease remains a substantial burden, the proportion of confirmed cases resulting in death has declined considerably compared with the same period last year.
He said most confirmed cases are concentrated in a few states, particularly Kano, Borno and Bauchi.
“The central issue is that too many children remain unvaccinated or incompletely vaccinated,” Mr Idris said.
ALSO READ: Cholera outbreak in Borno overwhelms health facilities as suspected cases exceed 35,000
He identified vaccine hesitancy, insecurity, hard-to-reach communities, displacement, and population movement as factors that make it difficult to reach every child who needs protection.
He stressed that diphtheria is vaccine-preventable and called for improved vaccination coverage, particularly in affected, underserved and hard-to-reach communities.
NCDC response
The NCDC said it was coordinating the public health response to both outbreaks with state governments and partners, including strengthening surveillance and laboratory capacity, supporting healthcare workers and deploying National Rapid Response Teams to affected states.
For cholera, the response includes oral cholera vaccination in high-burden areas, water chlorination, rehabilitation of water sources and hygiene promotion.
The agency said its teams had investigated transmission sources and assessed water supply points in Borno, while in Bauchi, oral rehydration points had been established, treatment capacity strengthened, and active case search intensified.
For diphtheria, the response is focused on strengthening vaccination coverage and rapidly identifying and managing cases. Reactive vaccination is also being conducted in affected areas.
Mr Idris said the federal government’s efforts alone would not be enough to bring the outbreaks under control, urging state and local governments, healthcare workers, communities and families to sustain their response.
He also advised Nigerians to seek medical attention early if they develop frequent watery diarrhoea, with or without vomiting.
“Do not wait until the illness becomes severe,” he said, advising people to start oral rehydration solution immediately and proceed to the nearest health facility.
The NCDC also urged parents and caregivers to ensure that children who have missed recommended doses of the diphtheria vaccine complete their routine immunisation.
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A total of 10,494 Nigerians are listed among staff in the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS), according to data shared by NHS Million, a UK campaign organisation focused on NHS staff.
Nigeria ranked sixth overall on the list, behind the UK/British, India, the Philippines, Ireland and Poland, making Nigeria the largest African nationality represented in the breakdown.
The data shared by NHS Million showed that more than 1.1 million NHS workers identified as British or UK nationals, while Indians accounted for 32,117 staff and Filipinos 25,423.
It also showed that Zimbabwe had the second-highest number of African nationals working in the NHS, with 4,780, followed by Ghana with 3,395, Egypt with 2,895 and South Africa with 1,829.
The figures highlight the significant contribution of Nigerian professionals to the UK health system, but also come amid persistent concerns over the shortage of health workers in the country.
Nigeria loses thousands of health workers
The 2025 State of Health of the Nation Report, released by the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, showed that over 20,000 Nigerian health workers relocated abroad within one year.
The figure included 3,919 doctors, 7,487 nurses and midwives, 6,861 medical laboratory professionals, 702 pharmacists, 658 physiotherapists and 274 dentists, among other health professionals. The report also showed that Nigeria has 95,456 registered doctors, but only 60,551 currently hold active practising licences.
The workforce shortage is further worsened by the uneven distribution of health professionals across the country, with several northern states recording particularly low doctor densities.
UK remains major destination
The United Kingdom is one of the major destinations for Nigerian health professionals.
Data from the UK’s General Medical Council showed that 4,691 Nigerian-trained doctors joined the UK medical register between May 2023 and April 2026, according to a Punch report.
The data also showed that 15,896 Nigerian-trained doctors were licensed to practise in the UK.
READ ALSO: PT Health Watch: How laboratory tests can help detect colorectal cancer early – Expert
The 2025 State of Health of the Nation Report identified external migration as one of the factors affecting the availability of health professionals in Nigeria.
Migration policy yet to be fully implemented
The federal government has introduced several measures aimed at increasing the health workforce and addressing migration.
Nigeria also approved a National Policy on Health Workforce Migration in August 2024, aimed at managing health worker migration, improving retention and strengthening workforce planning.
However, the 2025 State of Health of the Nation Report said that although the implementation plan had been finalised, full implementation had not commenced.
The report said an additional 23,000 frontline health workers were trained in 2025, bringing the number trained between 2024 and 2025 to 78,146, or about 65 per cent of the national target of 120,000.
The policy is intended to improve working conditions, support career progression and establish a more coordinated approach to health worker migration and retention.
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Colorectal cancer, which affects the colon and rectum, is one of the most common cancers globally, yet it can remain unnoticed for a long time because some people have no symptoms in the early stages.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 1.9 million new cases of colorectal cancer and more than 900,000 deaths occurred globally in 2022.
The agency said symptoms, when they occur, may include blood in the stool, persistent changes in bowel habits, abdominal pain, unexplained weight loss and fatigue.
Because some people may not notice any warning signs, screening can provide an opportunity to identify possible abnormalities before the disease becomes advanced.
What happens before a diagnosis is confirmed?
Laboratory investigations are an important part of that process, as medical laboratory scientists examine samples that can provide clues about what is happening in a patient’s body.
Speaking with PT HEALTH WATCH, Adedoye David, a medical laboratory scientist, said laboratory testing contributes to the investigation of colorectal cancer through the examination of biological samples, including stool, blood and tissue.
One of the investigations is the Faecal Occult Blood Test (FOBT), which detects blood in stool that may not be visible to the naked eye.
Another is the Faecal Immunochemical Test (FIT), which uses antibodies to detect human haemoglobin in stool.
These tests can help identify people who may require further assessment, but Mr David stressed that detecting blood in stool is not the same as diagnosing cancer.
“Stool-based tests are very important for detecting hidden blood in stool. It could be reliable if the test investigation is carried out using the right and standard operating procedures.
“But as much as it can be reliable in detecting hidden blood, it might not be totally reliable in the diagnosis of colorectal cancer,”he said.
Where further investigation is necessary, Mr David said a patient may be referred for procedures such as colonoscopy, during which abnormal areas can be identified and tissue samples taken for laboratory examination.
A biopsy can then help determine whether the abnormal tissue is cancerous.
Why symptoms should not be ignored
The distinction between screening and diagnosis is important because colorectal cancer does not always announce itself with obvious symptoms.
A person who feels healthy may therefore not consider testing necessary, while another may receive a negative stool test and conclude that further medical attention is unnecessary.
Mr David said both assumptions could be misleading.
He urged people to seek medical advice when they experience persistent symptoms rather than waiting for them to become severe.
He also advised people with a family history of colorectal cancer or long-term inflammatory bowel disease to discuss their risk with healthcare professionals and determine whether they require earlier or more frequent screening.
WHO identifies family history of colorectal cancer and certain inflammatory bowel diseases among factors that can increase a person’s risk of developing the disease.
Although colorectal cancer is more common with increasing age, it is not exclusively a disease of older people. WHO has also reported a rising incidence among younger adults in several countries.
Screening is only useful when people can complete it
The challenge, however, is not simply persuading people to undergo screening. The health system must also be able to support them when a test produces an abnormal result.
Evidence from Nigeria illustrates this point.
A Nigerian community-based study involving more than 2,000 adults found that FIT screening was feasible. However, the researchers also highlighted challenges with follow-up colonoscopy after positive results.
This means that detecting a possible problem is only one part of the process. Patients must be able to access the additional investigations required to establish what the abnormal result means and, where necessary, begin treatment.
Mr David identified limited facilities capable of carrying out some key investigations and the cost of available services as major challenges facing colorectal cancer testing in Nigeria.
For people who may already be hesitant about testing, the cost and availability of diagnostic services can make early detection even more difficult.
READ ALSO: Hot tea, coffee linked to higher risk of oesophageal cancer — Study
Mr David also urged Nigerians to overcome the embarrassment that may come with providing stool samples for laboratory examination.
“There is nothing to be ashamed of producing a stool sample. It is just like any other medical sample and it is needed for us to carry out informed diagnosis,” he said.
Ultimately, a stool test is not a verdict on whether a person has cancer. Rather, it can be one step in a process that helps health professionals decide who may need further investigation.
For Mr David, improving colorectal cancer outcomes therefore requires both public awareness and access to appropriate laboratory and diagnostic services, so that people can seek help early and abnormal findings can be properly investigated.
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