A medical personnel stands in front of a ward of a Cholera Treatment Center, funded by the Official Happiness project shirt in addition I really love this Unicef, Malawi Red Cross and UK Aid, at Bwaila Hospital in the capital Lilongwe, Malawi, January 25, 2018. AMOS GUMULIRA/AFP/AFP/Getty Images — Malawi has reported more than 1,000 deaths from a cholera outbreak that started in March 2022, the country’s health ministry said in a statement Wednesday. Cases reported since the outbreak has risen to 31,241, according to the statement, while the death toll stands at 1,023. Health minister Khumbize Chiponda said in a press conference on Thursday that cholera deaths had multiplied within the last month. “Within four weeks, the numbers have doubled,” she said. As of December 26, total deaths from the bacterial disease stood at 486, Malawi government data showed. According to Chiponda, around 66 percent of the casualties were men, but children have also died from the disease, she stated. “We have lost children as well … about 11 school children,” Chiponda said, adding that Malawi was witnessing its worst cholera outbreak in two decades. Ad Feedback Cholera rages through Middle East and Africa amid vaccine shortage “The last time when we had the worst case of cholera was in 2002,” the minister said. The current fatality rate surpasses the country’s largest cholera outbreak which killed more than 900 people between 2001 and 2002. Malawi’s health ministry said 1,126 people suffering from cholera were currently admitted in treatment units, adding that all of the country’s 29 health districts had been affected by the disease since the outbreak began. The ministry also warned people to be careful when handling the bodies of cholera victims and preparing them for funerals. “Some cultural rituals related to the death of cholera victims help to perpetuate the disease. For example, people who are dying or who have died from cholera may be washed by family members who then prepare funeral feasts … outbreaks of cholera commonly follow these feasts,” its statement said. The disease had been in decline for years, but 2022 witnessed what the United Nations called “a worrying upsurge” in cholera outbreaks around the globe. People who live in areas with shortages of safe drinking water or inadequate sanitation are vulnerable to the disease, which can result from consuming bacteria-contaminated food or water.
A soldier of the Official Happiness project shirt in addition I really love this French Army patrols a rural area during the Barkhane operation in northern Burkina Faso on November 9, 2019. Michele Cattani/AFP/Getty Images/FILE — France will withdraw its military forces from Burkina Faso within a month, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs told on Wednesday. Following a formal request from the Burkina Faso government to do so, the French military mission will end a month after receipt of that written demand, the ministry said. Since 2018, the French and Burkina Faso governments have had an agreement allowing the presence of French troops on Burkinabe soil. French troops have been deployed in West Africa since 2013 to fight jihadist groups in the Sahel. This withdrawal is the latest step back for France’s military footprint in the Sahel region, after the 2022 withdrawal of French forces from Mali following a military coup in the country and the eventual breakdown in relations with the Malian government. Burkina Faso’s military government demands French troops leave the country within one month The French Armed Forces declined to comment on the composition of the mission in Burkina Faso, adding that it also did not have a comment on how the withdrawal will affect French operations in the Sahel region. The French foreign ministry said on Thursday it was recalling its ambassador to Burkina Faso, citing “the context of recent developments”, a day after Paris announced it would withdraw its troops from the African country. “We have decided to recall our ambassador in Paris, to conduct consultations on the state and perspectives of our bilateral cooperation”, the ministry said in a statement. Ad Feedback Protests by opponents of the French military presence have surged in Burkina, partly linked to perceptions that France has not done enough to tackle an Islamist insurgency that has spread in recent years from neighboring Mali.
