The Tigray Health Bureau disclosed that 11 people have died from cholera in nine woredas of the northernmost of the region.
“As of September 24, 2025, 367 cholera cases have been reported in southeastern, northeastern, and central Tigray,” Mebrhatom Hafte Amha, Public Health Emergency Coordinator at the Bureau, told Reporter Magazine. He also mentioned a suspected case, still unconfirmed, which “we cannot verify as cholera or a related symptom because it occurred in an inaccessible locality near a border area with Eritrea, which is not secure.”
Mebrhatom, who is also coordinating the response to the current cholera outbreak, said that “artisanal miners, who are characterized by high mobility in search of new gold pits, particularly in the northwest, have been the hardest hit by the outbreak, which began in July.”
According to him, three patients died while under medical care, while the others died before they could reach health centers. “The outbreak began in the southwestern Tigray areas of Samre and Salwa,” he said, adding that it is now spreading to the northwestern Tigray region, where gold mining activities are widespread and attract many artisanal miners.
RELATED POSTS
The tracing of the root cause and tracking of new cases are being strengthened, the coordinator said. While the outbreak continues to spread, a decrease has been observed in the two most affected woredas, Salwa and Samre. “No new cases have been reported in Samre Woreda, southwest Tigray, for the past 28 days.”
Woredas in northwestern Tigray are now the hotspots of the outbreak, according to the coordinator. Two districts in southwestern Tigray (Samre and Salwa), six districts in northwestern Tigray (Seyenti, Adiabo, Maekelawi, Adi Da’Aro, Asgede, Zana, and La’elai Qoraro), and one district in the Central Zone (Adet) have been affected by the outbreak.
A team from the World Health Organization has been deployed to the most affected northwestern areas to assist with containment efforts, while consultations are ongoing with the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI).
Mebrhatom appealed to EPHI to provide oral cholera vaccines, which he said would be crucial for the success of ongoing containment efforts. The regional health bureau has set a 45-day timetable to manage the epidemic. “We have discussed the vaccines with EPHI, and they have submitted the request to the International Coordination Group (ICG), an international body that approves medical consignment. Such requests are made at the national level, and we understand that the process may take some time before ICG approval is granted.”
The emergency health expert explained that “80 percent of patients are asymptomatic, and the high mobility in traditional gold mining areas is making control efforts more difficult.”
He said that they have set up tracking checkpoints, including one at the entry to Shire city.
In a statement on September 22, posted on ReliefWeb on September 24, the European Commission Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) revealed: “As of 18 September 2025, over 300 cholera cases have been reported across six woredas in the Tigray region: Selewa, Samre, Seyemti Adyabo, Maekel Adyabo, Adi Daero, and Zana, with a case fatality rate of 3.1 Pete cent, which is above emergency thresholds. Most of the cases are male, with many originating from gold mining areas.”
ECHO stated that the outbreak remains “uncontrolled,” and added that other regions of Ethiopia, including Amhara and Benishangul Gumuz, are also facing new outbreaks, though aggregated and up-to-date data are not available for these areas.
