KALEMIE, DR Congo — Cholera is spreading across eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, with more than 55,000 suspected cases reported between January and October, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Saturday, citing national authorities.
Source: UN OCHA via APO Group, Oct 24, 2026
The situation is especially concerning in Tanganyika Province in the south-east, where provincial authorities say the outbreak has affected all health zones, OCHA said. More than 6,300 cases have been reported there since January — nearly 1,000 more than during the same period last year — and the province has also recorded one of the highest numbers of deaths due to cholera, OCHA said, without giving a provincial death toll.
Source: UN OCHA via APO Group, Oct 24, 2026
In the provincial capital Kalemie, the treatment centre for diarrhoeal disease is overwhelmed, putting further pressure on health services already strained by limited access to safe water and sanitation, OCHA said. Some households have resorted to using untreated water from Lake Tanganyika and nearby rivers, increasing the potential for further transmission.
Source: UN OCHA via APO Group, Oct 24, 2026
Displacement sites hosting more than 6,500 people have also been affected, while over 12,000 displaced people are at risk of infection, OCHA said.
Source: UN OCHA via APO Group, Oct 24, 2026
The UN and its partners, including UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO), are providing treatment, medical supplies and water chlorination, OCHA said. It said they remain deeply concerned by the trajectory of the outbreak and called for additional support to expand treatment capacity, adding that sustained investment in water and sanitation infrastructure is essential to prevent future outbreaks.
Source: UN OCHA via APO Group, Oct 24, 2026
The wider epidemic is larger still on WHO's count. The WHO warned on October 14 that more than 125,000 suspected cholera cases and 3,644 suspected deaths had been recorded between January 2025 and the end of September 2026, and that since the beginning of 2026 alone more than 51,412 suspected cases, including 1,487 deaths, had been reported across 21 provinces, PANA reported. The two counts differ because they cover different periods and reporting systems, and both are reported here as their agencies stated them.
Source: WHO via PANA, Oct 14, 2026