Nigeria is facing one of its most severe and prolonged diphtheria outbreaks in history, with the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) reporting a cumulative total of 61,930 suspected cases and 2,151 deaths as of 18 January 2026 since May 2022. The outbreak is part of a regional outbreak that started in late 2022 in West Africa, with Nigeria being the most affected.
This vaccine-preventable disease continues to claim lives, worsened by low immunization rates, conflict, insecurity and the concurrent impacts of malnutrition and infectious diseases that creates a cycle of severity: a malnourished child has a weakened immune response, making them more likely to contract the disease and less likely to survive the respiratory distress. Co-infections such as measles also weaken the immune systems further. With increasingly high malnutrition rates witnessed in the country each year, the outcome for vulnerable children becomes worse.
Vaccination is the best way to reduce incidences of diphtheria, and to limit impact on affected patients. However, many affected communities have large numbers of unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children, leaving them vulnerable to infection.
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), in close collaboration with state Ministries of Health, is treating thousands of suspected cases across the country, and currently supports activities in Bauchi, Borno, Kano and Sokoto states. In February 2026, MSF and the Borno State Ministry of Health successfully completed two rounds of a vaccination campaign against diphtheria targeting children in Maiduguri Metropolitan Council (MMC) Local Government Area (LGA) in Nigeria’s Borno state.