A severe cholera outbreak has claimed the lives of nearly 2,000 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since January, the United Nations Children’s Agency (UNICEF) announced on Thursday. The agency has issued an urgent appeal for increased funding to bolster sanitation, hygiene, and health services to combat the spread of the waterborne disease.

According to UNICEF’s latest report, a total of 64,427 suspected cholera cases and 1,888 deaths have been recorded across the vast Central African nation. The outbreak has spread extensively, with cases now reported in 17 of the country's 26 provinces.

Children have been disproportionately affected. The data indicates that 14,818 cases and 340 deaths involved children, meaning that nearly one in every four cases—approximately 23.4%—is a child.

"Cholera is a preventable and treatable disease, yet it continues to claim lives at an alarming rate in the DRC," said a UNICEF spokesperson. "This outbreak is a stark reminder of the critical gaps in access to clean water, safe sanitation, and basic healthcare. Without an immediate scale-up of interventions, including community awareness and case management, we risk seeing this crisis escalate further."

The outbreak's wide geographic spread underscores the scale of the challenge. Cholera, an acute diarrhoeal infection caused by ingesting contaminated food or water, thrives in areas with poor sanitation and limited access to clean water. Chronic underfunding of public health infrastructure, coupled with population displacement and ongoing insecurity in parts of the DRC, has created ideal conditions for the disease to spread.

UNICEF and its partners are supporting the government's response by providing water purification tablets, soap, and oral rehydration salts, and by rehabilitating water points. The agency is also leading community hygiene promotion campaigns. However, they warn that current resources are insufficient to contain the outbreak effectively.

"We are in a race against time," the spokesperson added. "Additional funding is urgently required to expand our reach and prevent more needless deaths, especially among the most vulnerable children."