The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has raised the possibility of tackling the ongoing cholera outbreak in the same way as the Mpox outbreak, which is showing signs of slowing down in affected countries.
- •According to UNICEF, over 178,000 cases of cholera have been confirmed in 16 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa from January 2024 until March 2025.
- •The affected countries are Angola, DRC, South Sudan, Sudan, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
- •Four countries-Angola, DRC, South Sudan and Sudan-account for over 90% of the confirmed cases, primarily due to ongoing conflicts which have stretched systems and hampered interventions.
“Lessons learned from the mpox response, especially the need for close collaboration with other partners, will now be applied to fighting cholera,” said Dr Ngashi Ngongo, the Principal Advisor to Africa CDC’s Director General.
The Mpox outbreak, first declared a health emergency by Africa CDC and WHO last August, spread to 23 countries and is currently active in 16. At the continental level, the Incident Management Support Team (IMST) first formed to deal with the outbreak has also provided a model for other outbreaks such as measles and chickenpox. The integrated approach is coming in handy as the outbreaks evolve, with new ones compounding already existing ones, and new hotspots emerging seemingly overnight.
Sierra Leone, for example, first reported a case of Mpox in January 2025. By early May, it had half of the continent’s confirmed cases, averaging about 100 new cases a day.
Similar to many other countries, the aggressive spread in Sierra Leone is due to overstretched and overcrowded health systems. This is in addition to the lack of vaccines has also hampered interventions of ongoing, concurrent outbreaks across the region.
“Africa currently produces less than 1% of the vaccines it uses. This is a challenge we are committed to changing,” said Dr. Jean Kaseya, Director General of Africa CDC. “Our goal is to manufacture 60% of vaccines used in Africa locally by 2040.”
In 2024 alone, 25 vaccine manufacturing projects were underway on the continent, with eight antigens expected to be WHO prequalified and market-ready between 2025 and 2030.
