CONGO, Dec 9: The Democratic Republic of the Congo is experiencing its worst cholera outbreak since 2000, with more than 1,800 people dead since the beginning of 2025, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said.
“The cholera outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has had a devastating impact, tallying 64,427 total cases since the start of the year, including 1,888 deaths, with children accounting for 14,818 cases and 340 deaths, making it the worst outbreak in 25 years in the country,” the organisation said in a statement here.
The outbreak has disrupted children’s education, and in one of the most tragic cases, 16 of 62 children living in a Kinshasa orphanage died within days of an outbreak, the statement noted.
The epidemic has affected 17 of the 26 provinces of the DRC, including the capital, Kinshasa, the statement read, adding that the proportion of cases among children varies by province, but the national average is approximately 23.4 per cent.
Poor sanitation remains a major problem: only 43 per cent of the population has at least basic water services, the lowest rate in Africa, and only 15 per cent have access to basic sanitation, the organisation said.
(UNI)
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