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DR Congo: Escalation of conflict raises concerns over widespread infectious diseases, says WHO

At least 25 million people have been caught up in the humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where a neglected health crisis is unfolding at alarming speed, the UN health agency, WHO, said on Friday.

For decades, conflict in the mineral-rich eastern DRC has triggered alarming levels of violence, mass displacement, widespread disease, gender-based violence and severe mental trauma said Dr Adelheid Marschang, Senior Emergency Officer at the World Health Organization (WHO).

The vast central African nation has now the “highest number of people in need of humanitarian aid in the entire world, with 25.4 million affected”, she told journalists in Geneva.

A staggering 7.4 million people have been displaced, including 2.8 million in North Kivu alone. The number of people forcibly uprooted has increased since the separatist M23 movement launched a major offensive in 2022, prompting national and regional military responses that have struggled to restrain the militia's advance. These mass displacements have overwhelmed water and sanitation systems and brought an additional burden to the population’s scarce resources, warned the WHO.

“About 40 per cent of the population, that is 40.8 million people, face serious food shortages, with 15.7 million facing severe food insecurity and as a result, a higher risk of malnutrition and infectious diseases,” said Dr Marschang. “If immediate action is not taken to address basic needs in DRC, over one million children will suffer from acute malnutrition,” she added.

Outbreaks of cholera, measles, meningitis, Mpox and plague, have all been reported, exacerbated by severe flooding and landslides.

Mpox remains a global health threat with 26 countries reporting cases to WHO this month. DRC has seen 20,000 cases and more than 1,000 deaths from the virus since the start of 2023. Over 11,000 cases, including 443 deaths, have been reported so far this year, “again affecting mostly children”, Dr Marschang said.

Mpox spreads through close contact, causing flu-like symptoms and skin rash. Scientists raised the alarm last month about a dangerous new strain of Mpox in South Kivu and fear it will spread in overcrowded camps in and around Goma. Military activities around those camps make it difficult for health authorities to contain the virus if security is not granted, the UN health agency explained.

On Monday, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, Bintou Keita, told the UN Security Council that the DRC is facing one of the most severe and neglected humanitarian crises of our times.

Dr Marschang echoed that observation, explaining that the Humanitarian Response Plan for 2024 aims to assist 8.7 million people and requires $2.6 billion for all UN and partner agencies. “The underfunding is severe,” she stressed, as “16 per cent of the Humanitarian Response plan is currently funded. For WHO, we are looking for something like $30 million to address the situation until the end of the year.”

The deterioration of the security situation has accompanied the full withdrawal from South Kivu of the UN Stabilization Mission (MONUSCO) in DRC, ending the first phase of disengagement following a request to close the mission from the Government in Kinshasa.

MONUSCO’s operations began winding down in January after two decades of operations, but its Head, Bintou Keita, told the UN Security Council on Monday there should not be a rush to further disengagement since this process has thrown up unexpected challenges. She explained the rebel activity from the M23 carries a “very real risk of provoking a wider regional conflict”. According to a UN expert group the militia is supported by Rwanda and has been responsible for unlawful killings, rapes and other apparent war crimes in the DRC since late 2022.

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Health situation in DRC - WHO

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