Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS, 1st July. WHO Senior Emergency Officer Dr. Jorge Castilla on Friday warned that increased violence, natural disasters and disease outbreaks is crippling health situation in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Dr. Jorge Castilla was speaking to reporters in Kinshasa said there had been a major increase in displacement due to ongoing violence by armed groups, left 7.4 million in need of health assistance.
He noted that since March 2022, 3 million people have been forced from their homes in the eastern DRC in North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri provinces.
Dr. Castilla said many on the move had been attacked.
In the Goma area, “when they move, also diseases move with them. Cholera has spread through the area, and it is now prevalent with 25,000 cases. The area where they arrived has the highest number.”
WHO said the country’s health system is under huge pressure due to overlapping outbreaks of COVID-19, measles, polio, mpox. Yellow fever, cholera and malaria are on the rise due to recurrent natural disasters and lack of access to safe water and sanitation for those on the move.
The aAgency data showed that the DRC has been facing an average of 1,000 cholera cases per week. As of 12 June, a total of 24,562 cases and 156 deaths have been reported.
WHO said a measles vaccination campaign is planned for the coming days.
Two provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu account for 82 per cent of over 136,000 measles cases recorded this year so far, which include 2,000 deaths.
The flooding 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, WHO stated.
Attacks by armed groups on health facilities have also impacted the ability to provide healthcare, the agency stressed.
Dr. Castilla said landslides triggered flooding, facilities were destroyed with the loss of life and injuries,“ so the entire health system is really under stress.”
He said hunger and malnutrition are growing, forcing some of the displaced to return to areas of origin to survive and exposing them to further violence, mental health shocks and psychosocial strain.
“There is this increase in malnutrition and this increasing gap between the needs and the assistance,” noted Dr. Castilla.
“The whole UN humanitarian system decided on the 16th of this month to do a three-month scale-up for everybody in order to improve the actions of the different partners there.”
He added that close to 26 million people are facing acute food insecurity this year, the highest number of food insecure anywhere in the world.
Acute malnutrition is severely affecting children under the age of five, pregnant women and lactating mothers, WHO said.
The ahency added that $174 million required to provide urgent health assistance, only $23 million (13 per cent) has been funded so far.
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