Chart of the week: Cholera outbreak

Nigeria’s 2021 cholera outbreak picked up steam in July with 441 fatalities in 13 states recorded by the NCDC. The list of states with fatalities shows a strong correlation with the SBM Health Preparedness Index published in May 2021. Only two of the 13 states with cholera outbreaks, (Bayelsa and Kogi) were in the top half of SBM’s HPI, while 11 of the bottom 18 states have seen fatalities during the outbreak. Only one of the affected states (Bayelsa) is in the Southern part of the country. Zamfara is the only state in the North-West not affected by the outbreak. Cholera is primarily a disease of hygiene, so this chart shows the amount of work that state health authorities still need to do in these states, to ensure their citizens do not die of preventable causes.

Correction notice: An earlier version of this chart stated that “Nigeria’s 2021 cholera outbreak picked up steam in July with 451 fatalities in 13 states recorded by the NCDC.” The correct number of fatalities is 441, not 451. We sincerely apologise for this error.