Africa Turns to Mpox Lessons to Fight Cholera
May 18, 2025
The escalating cholera crisis in Africa, affecting over 178,000 people across 16 countries, underscores the urgent need for a coordinated, cross-border response. Africa CDC is considering adapting the successful mpox response model—based on multisectoral collaboration, unified strategy, and regional capacity-building—to tackle this waterborne threat. With conflict, weak surveillance, and insufficient vaccine supply exacerbating outbreaks, the proposed approach integrates cholera with existing frameworks, such as the Incident Management Support Team (IMST). Leveraging lessons from mpox offers a path forward, but sustained investment in sanitation, water infrastructure, and local vaccine manufacturing remains essential for long-term cholera control.
Africa’s surging cholera outbreak has reignited calls for a unified, continent-wide response strategy, drawing inspiration from the successful mpox model. With over 178,000 cases and more than 1,600 deaths reported across 16 countries since January 2024, the crisis is rapidly escalating. Four countries—Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), South Sudan, and Sudan—account for over 90% of cases, with conflict, displacement, and inadequate water sanitation driving the spread.
In response, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) is exploring how to replicate the coordination model used in the mpox outbreak. That model, led jointly by Africa CDC and the World Health Organization (WHO), brought together 26 global partners, including UNICEF and Gavi, under an Incident Management Support Team (IMST) operating on a "One Team, One Plan, One Budget, One Monitoring Framework" approach. The IMST’s integrated structure has been praised for its agility in managing concurrent outbreaks—such as mpox, measles, and chickenpox—and will soon extend to cholera response.
Dr. Ngashi Ngongo of Africa CDC emphasized that regional resilience must be built through better surveillance, laboratory infrastructure, and local vaccine production. The African Pooled Procurement Mechanism is expected to play a crucial role in alleviating cholera vaccine shortages. Moreover, Africa CDC aims to collaborate with the Global Task Force on Cholera Control to align its outbreak strategy with international best practices.
However, experts caution that managing cholera requires more than outbreak response. Structural investments in clean water, sanitation, and peacebuilding are critical. While the IMST offers a replicable blueprint, long-term solutions must address the root causes of cholera. The continent’s evolving epidemic landscape demands a new era of integrated, sustainable public health systems—driven by African leadership and global solidarity.