DR Congo faces catastrophic health, humanitarian crisis
![DR Congo faces catastrophic health, humanitarian crisis DR Congo faces catastrophic health, humanitarian crisis](https://citizentv.obs.af-south-1.myhuaweicloud.com/128832/conversions/DR-Congo-og_image.webp)
People displaced by ongoing fighting gather at a refugee camp on the outskirts of Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on July 11, 2024.
The World Health Organization
warns that millions of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo are facing a
health and humanitarian crisis because of escalating conflict and violence,
mainly in the eastern part of the country in recent months.
The agency said the surge in violence by armed groups,
principally Rwandan-backed M23 Tutsi-led rebels, an accusation denied by the
Rwandan government, is leading to “mass displacement, widespread disease,
gender-based violence and severe mental trauma.”
Dr. Adelheid Marschang, a WHO senior emergency officer, told
journalists in Geneva Friday, “The DRC now has the highest number of people in
need of humanitarian aid in the entire world, with 25.4 million affected.”
She said the DRC “remains one of the most underfunded
crises,” which hampers the ability of people to receive the relief supplies and
care needed to protect them from infectious diseases, hunger, and sexual and
gender-based violence.
The United Nations’ $2.6 billion Humanitarian Response Plan, which aims to assist 8.7 million people in the DRC in 2024, is only 16% funded.
Marschang said the WHO has
received just $6.3 million of the $30 million it requires, at a minimum, until
the end of the year “as the situation is expected to get worse.”
“Mass movements of people overwhelm water and sanitation systems and bring an additional burden on the population’s scarce resources,” she said.
“As a result, people are
facing outbreaks of cholera, measles, meningitis, mpox and plague, all
exacerbated by severe flooding and landslides affecting some parts of the
country.”
In the first half of this year, the WHO has reported more
than 20,000 cases of cholera, including 274 deaths, most in North Kivu
province, and 65,415 cases of measles, including 1,523 deaths.
“The actual numbers are likely to be higher due to limited
disease surveillance and data reporting,” Marschang said.
She said armed conflict and mass displacement, compounded by
widespread floods, were driving hunger and malnutrition to new heights, “by
forcing families to leave their farms, leave their crops, leave everything they
have to move wherever it is safe.”
The latest IPC Chronic Food Insecurity report finds that
about 40% of the DRC’s population — 40.8 million people — “face serious food
shortages, with 15.7 million facing severe food insecurity and higher risk of
malnutrition and infectious diseases.”
Marschang said 1 million children out of 6.9 million are
malnourished and at risk of becoming severely acutely malnourished if they do
not receive specialized therapeutic treatment.
She explained that children with this condition have a weakened immune system, which makes them susceptible to deadly infectious diseases.
Severe acute malnutrition also
has serious cognitive consequences for children “harming their prospects in
life.”
During a media briefing earlier this week, Tedros Adhanom
Ghebreyesus, the WHO director-general, warned of the global health threat posed
by mpox, with 26 countries reporting nearly 98,000 cases to the WHO.
Noting that the DRC was in the crosshairs of a growing
epidemic, he said, “The outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo shows
no sign of slowing, with more than 11,000 cases reported this year, and 445
deaths, with children the most affected.”
Mpox, a viral disease, spreads through close contact with an
infected person through contaminated materials, or with infected animals. Last
month, scientists warned of a dangerous new strain of mpox in South Kivu, which
could spread widely in overcrowded camps in and around Goma.
“It is a reason for concern,” Marschang said, adding that two
camps in North Kivu province are infected with the virus.
“If we consider that we have military activities around those
camps and some camps were actually targeted this year, I think it illustrates
the increasing risk for this disease to spread and also the difficulties of
containing it if security is not addressed,” she said.
The U.N. peacekeeping force MONUSCO began winding down its
operations in South Kivu in January. Marschang warned that “could create a
security vacuum.”
“This could throw us further into a situation of increasing numbers of displaced, of victims, of violence,” she said, “with the whole vicious cycle just continuing.”
Want to send us a story? SMS to 25170 or WhatsApp 0743570000 or Submit on Citizen Digital or email wananchi@royalmedia.co.ke
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a Comment