The World Health Organization (WHO) recently assessed the global risk of cholera as very high. Preliminary data show that the worldwide cholera crisis is ongoing into 2025, with 31 countries reporting outbreaks since the start of the year.
In 2024, sixty countries reported cholera outbreaks, an increase from the 45 countries that reported cases in 2023.
On September 12, 2025, the WHO announced that cholera cases rose by 5%, and deaths surged by 50% in 2024 compared to 2023, with more than 6,000 people dying from a disease that is both vaccine-preventable and treatable.
The WHO stated in a media release, “While these numbers are alarming, they likely underestimate the true burden of cholera.”
To combat cholera, governments, donors, and communities must ensure that people have access to safe water and hygiene facilities, receive accurate information on how to protect themselves, and have rapid access to treatment and vaccination during outbreaks.
Further investment in vaccine production is also needed.
A new, innovative oral cholera vaccine (OCV), Euvichol-S®, was prequalified in early 2024 and entered the global stockpile. Its addition helped to maintain average stockpile levels above the emergency threshold of 5 million doses for the first 6 months of 2025.
However, due to the continued high demand for OCV, the temporary change from a two-dose to a single-dose regimen remained in effect throughout 2024 and into 2025.
Requests for 61 million OCV doses were made to the global stockpile in 2024, and a record 40 million were approved for emergency use in reactive, single-dose campaigns in 16 countries.
Unfortunately, supply constraints continued to outstrip demand in 2024 and into 2025.
In the United States, OCVs are generally available at travel clinics and pharmacies and are recommended by the U.S. CDC when visiting cholera outbreak zones.