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.

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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.

The federal government has urged the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) to strengthen professional accountability and take a leading role in the fight against quackery in the health sector.

The Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Iziaq Salako, made the call on Wednesday in Abuja at the NMA’s First Ordinary National Executive Council meeting of the new National Executive Committee for 2026.

The meeting, themed “Transforming Healthcare Practice in Nigeria: Building Trust, Accountability and Collaborative Excellence”, brought together medical practitioners, senior members of the profession, government officials and policymakers.

Health sector reforms

Mr Salako said the Nigeria Health Sector Renewal Investment Initiative, signed in December 2023, had recorded 84 per cent implementation, according to the 2025 Joint Annual Review.

He said the health sector’s share of the national budget had risen to 5.2 per cent, while funding under the Basic Health Care Provision Fund (BHCPF) increased from N131.5 billion in 2024 to N299 billion in 2026.

He said the increased investment had translated into improvements in primary healthcare delivery.

“More than 8,000 primary health care centres now receive direct facility financing, close to 4,000 PHCs have been upgraded, and monthly patient visits to Fund-supported facilities have risen from about 10 million in early 2024 to 45 million by mid-2025,” Mr Salako said.

He also highlighted gains under the Maternal Mortality Reduction Innovation Initiative, saying the 172 local government areas with the highest burden recorded a 17 per cent reduction in maternal deaths and a 12 per cent reduction in newborn deaths.

According to him, more than 48,000 women received free emergency obstetric care, while over 4,000 free caesarean sections were performed in National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) empanelled facilities.

He added that more than 4,700 women received free vesico-vaginal fistula repairs across 207 facilities.

On health insurance, Mr Salako said coverage had increased from about 16 million Nigerians in 2023 to more than 22 million.

Health workforce

Mr Salako said 37,000 health workers had been recruited into federal hospitals since 2024, while medical school quotas had been doubled to 10,000.

He added that N110 billion had been committed to upgrading 18 training institutions.

He also said a National Policy on Health Workforce Migration and a Diaspora Health Portal had been adopted.

Call for accountability

Mr Salako said the government was delivering on funding and policy, but patients ultimately judged the health system by their experiences with healthcare professionals.

He therefore urged the NMA to strengthen clinical governance, ensure accurate reporting of deaths and conclude disciplinary cases.

He also condemned absenteeism, the diversion of patients to private facilities and informal payments by healthcare workers.

“The government will never sacrifice public health on the altar of professional solidarity,” he said.

On quackery, Mr Salako described the practice as “homicide by instalment”.

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He also cited the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control’s (NAFDAC) removal of falsified drugs worth N1 trillion from Aba, Onitsha and Lagos.

Organ harvesting investigation

Mr Salako also announced an investigation into a viral report alleging the existence of an organ-harvesting syndicate in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

He said the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, through its National Tertiary Health Institutions Standard Committee, had developed national standards and guidelines for organ and tissue transplantation.

According to him, the guidelines require informed consent and prohibit the commercialisation of organ and tissue transplantation.