ReliefWeb

KASAI REGION CRISIS: DRC HUMANITARIAN FUND ALLOCATES USD 3 MILLION

Humanitarian Coordinator in DRC Mamadou Diallo on 29 May allocated USD 3 million to respond to the most pressing humanitarian needs of thousands of people affected by the crisis in the Kasai region. This allocation, from the Kinshasa-based Humanitarian Fund, will cover operations in health, logistics and protection for an initial period of three months. Over 1.3 million people have been displaced, the health system has been affected and 400,000 children are at risk of malnutrition as a result of the crisis that started in July 2016. This fresh funding supplements an earlier financing of $5 million, and an additional $4.5 million from the UN's Central Emergency Fund. In early April, the humanitarian launched a $64.5-million emergency appeal. In Lualaba, one of the provinces that has been indirectly affected by the crisis, local sources reported that 19 children among a group of militiamen were wounded in skirmishes in the city of Kapanga. The children have received treatment. Last month, some 20 child soldiers were arrested and remain in detention in Kolwezi. UNICEF has undertaken to release them and to ensure they receive support and assistance to return to their normal lives. Child soldiers has been an issue that has plagued the country. Congolese authorities have announced progress in the area over the past few years.

ITURI: SCORES OF WOMEN SUFFER FROM UNTREATED OBSTETRIC FISTULA

Lack of funding has hampered Congolese authorities and humanitarian actors’ capacity to treat women suffering from obstetric fistula in the northeastern Ituri Province. According to Ituri health authorities, out of over 9,000 women who suffered from the debilitating condition in 2016, less than 10% were able to get treatment, the vast majority could not get the necessary care due to the high cost of treatment estimated at about $500. The authorities are calling for a substantial increase in funding. A German medical institute and its local partner have been responding to 70% of the cases, the Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, South Kivu Province, covers 5 per cent of cases while the United Nations Fund for the Population (UNFPA) has supporting the remaining 25 per cent of the cost of treating the women.

BAS UELE: NO NEW EBOLA CASE IN OVER 3 WEEKS

DRC Health Minister, Oly Kalenga, on 2 June announced that the country has not recorder any new case of deadly viral disease Ebola in the past 21 days, the internationally recognized maximum incubation for the disease. Since 11 May when an epidemic was officially declared in the area of Likati, four people have died of the contagious disease. Congolese and international medical experts also tracked hundreds of people via mobile clinics as the disease is highly contagious. Over the past few years, the country has had bouts with the disease in Boende, Equateur Province, in 2014, and in Haut-Uele Province in 2012. Ebola was first detected in DRC in 1976.

ITURI: OVER 80 TONS OF FOOD DISTRIBUTED TO MORE THAN 27,000 SCHOOL CHILDREN

On 24 May, international NGO Samaritan’s Purse distributed 83 tons of food in the areas of Geti, Boga, Komanda and Luna under the World Food Program's school feeding scheme. More than 27,000 school children are to benefit from the food aid across 64 primary schools. In DRC, 3.5 million children suffer from malnutrition, of which some 1.9 million from severe acute malnutrition.

NORTH KIVU: NEARLY 20,000 IDPS RECEIVED FOOD ASSISTANCE IN RUTSHURU TERRITORY

On 30 May, the NGO Caritas distributed food provided by WFP to nearly 20,000 internally displaced people in Nyanzale. This marked the third and last round of assistance to the displaced who came in various waves between July 2016 and February 2017 following armed clashes in Bwito, Rutshuru Territory. After OCHA led an inter-cluster mission mid-April to identify gaps in Nyanzale and Bwalanda, WFP delivered one ton of plumpy nut to the area's malnutrition treatment units.

BAS UELE: NEARLY 11,000 CENTRAL AFRICAN REFUGEES REGISTERED

On 27 May, Congolese authorities and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recorded 10,836 Central African refugees who arrived in the province, having fled a fresh wave of violence in the neighboring central African country. According to UNHCR, poor road conditions have hampered aid delivery to the region while humanitarian needs are increasing.