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OVERVIEW
The Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition (SHCC) identified 49 incidents of violence against or obstruction of health care in Burkina Faso in 2023, compared to 66 in 2022. In these incidents, 12 health workers were kidnapped and eight killed, and health supplies were looted on at least 20 occasions. This factsheet is based on the dataset 2023 BFA SHCC Health Care Data, which is available for download on the Humanitarian Data Exchange (HDX).
THE CONTEXT
Burkina Faso continued to see ongoing political violence in 2023. The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project reported that killings of people in acts of political violence doubled in 2023 to 8,000. The increase was driven by continued jihadist insurgencies by the Sahelian branch of Al-Qaeda known as Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and the non-state armed group Islamic State Sahel Province (ISSP). In response to these attacks, in April 2023 Burkina Faso’s military government, which took power in a coup in September 2022, announced a “general mobilization” to recapture territory lost to armed groups that controlled approximately 50% of the country. This mobilization followed the withdrawal of French troops in February 2023 at the government’s request. The government also instituted a “Security First’’ policy prioritizing the recapture of territory over other areas of government spending such as health care.
Burkina Faso’s health ministry faced a dengue fever epidemic, with over 150,000 suspected cases and 709 deaths in 2023. Blockades were imposed by armed groups in at least 46 locations across the country and impacted one million people, while mass forced displacement added to humanitarian needs.