ABUJA: A cholera outbreak has hit Nigeria’s northeastern Borno state, already reeling from floods that displaced nearly 2 million people, an official said on Friday.
Cholera outbreaks are not uncommon in Borno, the epicenter of a 15-year-old Islamist insurgency that has displaced thousands into camps and strained sanitation facilities and potable water sources.
Borno Health Commissioner Baba Mallam Gana told reporters that 17 cases have been recorded following tests, but no deaths so far.
“However, we are recording an increasing number of Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD)/suspected Cholera which is not unconnected with the flood devastation,” Gana said.
Almost 500 cases of AWD have been recorded, Gana said, with five local government areas mostly affected.
Flooding in Borno began when a dam overflowed following heavy rains, displacing millions from their homes and damaging health facilities and other infrastructures.
Gana said that to combat the latest outbreak, the state got 300,000 oral cholera vaccine (OCV) doses from the federal health ministry, which have been distributed across displacement camps and flood-hit communities.
The state is waiting for an additional 600,000 doses of the vaccine to ensure adequate coverage, he said.
Nigeria’s Borno state hit by cholera amid flood devastation
https://arab.news/wcwfa
Nigeria’s Borno state hit by cholera amid flood devastation
- Cholera outbreaks are not uncommon in Borno, the epicenter of a 15-year-old Islamist insurgency
- Flooding in Borno began when a dam overflowed following heavy rains
Amnesty urges Burkina junta not to reinstate death penalty
- Amnesty’s regional director Marceau Sivieude said the military must “immediately halt” its plans “regardless of the nature of the offenses or crimes committed”
ABIDJAN: Amnesty International on Friday urged Burkina Faso’s military junta to scrap its plan to reinstate the death penalty seven years after its abolition.
The junta’s council of ministers adopted a draft law on Thursday aimed at reinstating the punishment for crimes including high treason, terrorism and espionage.
Amnesty’s regional director Marceau Sivieude said the military must “immediately halt” its plans “regardless of the nature of the offenses or crimes committed.”
“Countries that still retain the death penalty are an isolated minority as the world continues to move away from this cruel punishment,” he told AFP in a statement.
He added that the proposal if approved would “set Burkina Faso against the goal of abolition” enshrined in international law.
The last recorded execution was in 1988, according to Amnesty.
The proposed text, which requires the approval of the transitional legislative assembly created by the junta, would also punish “the promotion and practice of homosexuality and related acts.”
