South Korea has provided US$200,000 to Malawi to assist in humanitarian efforts to address a cholera outbreak that has claimed more than 1,000 lives in the southern African country over the past 10 months.
According to South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Asian country “hopes that the humanitarian aid to Malawi would ease the health crisis” in the country and help Malawians to recover from impact of the outbreak that began in March 2022.
“The ROK (Republic of Korea) government will continue to participate in the efforts of the international community to prevent the spread of infectious diseases,” the ministry said on Monday.
Latest figures from Malawi’s Ministry of Health show that over 33,600 people had been infected with cholera as of January 29, while the death toll stood at 1,093 since the beginning of the outbreak.
The South Korean donation comes days after the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies launched a 5.2 million Swiss francs (about US$5.65 million) emergency appeal to assist Malawi contain a deadly cholera outbreak.
Cholera is an intestinal infection resulting in rice watery diarrhoea and vomiting. If a patient is not treated properly and quickly they can lose water from their body leading to dehydration.
JN/APA