Health system in eastern DRC is on the brink of collapse, warns WHO – RNA NEWS

Population displacements in the Democratic Republic of the Congo are contributing to a health crisis. © UNICEF/Jospin Benekire

Rising violence, natural disasters and epidemics are fueling deteriorating health conditions in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a senior World Health Organization (WHO) official warned on Friday. ).

Speaking from the Congolese capital, WHO senior emergency officer Dr Jorge Castilla told reporters at a regular press briefing in Geneva that there had been a significant increase in travel due to continued violence fueled by armed groups, resulting in approximately 7.4 million people requiring health assistance.

Illnesses and displacements

Since March 2022, nearly three million people have been driven from their homes in the east of the country, in the provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri.

Dr Castilla pointed out that many people on the move had been repeatedly attacked. In the Goma region, “when they move, diseases also move with them. Cholera has spread through the region, and there are now 25,000 cases. The area where they arrived registers the highest number”.

The country’s health system is under enormous pressure due to outbreaks of COVID-19, measles, polio and mpox. Yellow fever, cholera and malaria are on the rise due to recurring natural disasters and lack of access to clean water and sanitation for people on the move, WHO said.

Cholera persists

The agency’s data shows that since mid-March, the DRC has experienced an average of 1,000 cholera cases per week. As of June 12, a total of 24,562 cases and 156 deaths have been reported.

A measles vaccination campaign is planned in the coming days, WHO said. The two provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu alone account for 82% of the more than 136,000 measles cases recorded this year so far, including 2,000 deaths.

In addition to rampant insecurity, flooding earlier this year killed and injured hundreds of people and affected 36 health facilities in North Kivu, South Kivu, Kasai and Tshopo provinces, further increasing health needs.

Attacks by armed groups on health facilities have also impacted the ability to provide health care.

The health system “really under pressure”

Due to the landslides caused by the floods, facilities have been destroyed, and there have been deaths and injuries. “So the whole healthcare system is really under pressure,” said Dr Castilla.

Hunger and malnutrition are on the rise, the WHO expert said, forcing some of the displaced to sporadically return to their areas of origin just to survive and exposing them to further violence, mental health shocks and psychosocial stresses.

“There is this increase in malnutrition and this growing gap between needs and assistance,” noted Dr Castilla. “The entire United Nations humanitarian system decided on the 16th of this month to carry out a reinforcement for three months for everyone in order to improve the actions of the various partners on the ground”.

Nearly 26 million people face acute food insecurity this year, he added, the highest number of food insecure people in the world.

Acute malnutrition severely affects children under five, pregnant women and nursing mothers.

Of the $174 million needed to provide emergency health assistance, only $23 million (13%) has been mobilized so far, WHO said. (END)

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