The European Union has approved €2.3 million in emergency humanitarian assistance to Nigeria, Cameroon, the Central African Republic and Chad to strengthen efforts to contain cholera outbreaks and prevent further loss of lives across the four African countries.

Nigeria will receive the largest portion of the funding, €1.5 million, which will be used to reinforce the country’s outbreak response through additional intervention teams, essential cholera supplies, improved disease surveillance and expanded water, sanitation and hygiene measures.

The European Commission announced the intervention on Monday, saying the funding would also support case detection and management, particularly in hard-to-reach communities, while strengthening risk communication and public awareness campaigns.

The emergency assistance comes as cholera continues to place a heavy burden on several African countries. According to the World Health Organisation, 61,888 cholera cases and 1,230 deaths were reported across 16 African countries between January 1 and May 31, 2026.

Nigeria accounted for 6,860 of the reported cases and 80 deaths during the period. The country recorded 5,798 new cases and 54 deaths in May alone, placing it among the countries with the highest reported cholera burden in the African Region that month.

Under the Nigerian component of the EU intervention, more response teams will be deployed to affected areas, while cholera treatment and prevention supplies will be made available to communities
facing heightened risks.

The funding will also support the treatment of public water sources and household water, strengthen surveillance in areas that are difficult to access, and improve the detection and management of suspected and confirmed cases.

Authorities and humanitarian partners will further intensify community engagement and risk communication to provide residents with practical information on cholera transmission, prevention and the importance of seeking prompt treatment.

Cameroon will receive €100,000 from the emergency package to support outbreak containment and case management. The funds will provide additional humanitarian personnel, essential medicines, cholera treatment units and oral rehydration points in some of the country’s worst-affected communities.

The Central African Republic is allocated €500,000 to expand cholera case management and vaccination, alongside water, sanitation and hygiene interventions. The funding will also strengthen surveillance, case detection, community engagement and risk communication, as well as support safe and dignified burials.

Chad will receive €200,000 to help interrupt transmission by improving access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene facilities while supporting community-based surveillance and case management.

EU Commissioner for Preparedness and Crisis Management, Hadja Lahbib, said the emergency funding was necessary because cholera continues to threaten communities where access to safe water and healthcare remains inadequate.

“Cholera is preventable and treatable. Yet it still threatens lives when people lack something as basic as safe water and healthcare,” Lahbib said.

She noted that the intervention was being deployed amid rising humanitarian needs and declining available resources, stressing that Europe would continue supporting efforts to protect vulnerable communities.

“Europe is not looking away. This emergency funding will help our partners act quickly, contain the outbreaks and protect the communities most at risk,” she added.

Cholera is a potentially life-threatening bacterial infection caused by Vibrio cholerae and is primarily spread through contaminated food or water. Severe cases can result in rapid dehydration and death if treatment is delayed.

The WHO has identified conflict, displacement, climate-related disasters, weak infrastructure and inadequate access to healthcare as factors making cholera outbreaks increasingly difficult to control, particularly in rural and flood-affected communities.

The regional scale of the outbreak underscores the continued vulnerability of many African countries to diseases associated with inadequate water and sanitation infrastructure.

WHO figures show that the Democratic Republic of Congo reported the highest number of cholera cases between January and May, with 28,567 cases and 815 deaths. South Sudan followed with 7,712 cases, while Mozambique recorded 7,500 cases.

Nigeria’s 6,860 reported cases placed it among the countries with the highest recorded burdens during the period.

The global health body, however, cautioned that reported figures may not fully reflect the scale of transmission because of under-reporting, delays in submitting data and variations in surveillance systems and case definitions across countries.

The latest intervention builds on wider international assistance to Nigeria’s public health system. In May, the EU and WHO launched a €4.2 million programme to strengthen selected Nigerian public health institutions, including their capacity to detect disease outbreaks earlier and exchange critical health information more rapidly.

With the additional €1.5 million dedicated specifically to cholera, the immediate focus will be on reducing transmission, expanding access to treatment and ensuring that communities most vulnerable to the disease have safer water, improved sanitation and timely public health information.

The EU said the broader emergency response would enable humanitarian partners to respond more rapidly, contain ongoing outbreaks and protect communities facing the greatest risk.