Humanitarian crisis in the DRC as the number for children and families displaced by violence nearly doubles

• Atleast 90,000 people recently displaced in a country already home to Africa’s highest number of internally displaced people at over 5.6 million. 

• The need is huge and growing, yet help is only trickling in. Organisations are resorting to reallocate resources from equally-urgent ongoing responses.   

• The displaced, especially children, are highly vulnerable to disease outbreaks in a country where 27 million (including 15.8 million children) people are already affected by acute food insecurity. 

Droves of people continue to flock already overcrowded camps of displaced persons in East Democratic Republic of Congo following sustained fighting between the government forces and the M23, creating unthinkable human suffering.  

At least 90,000 people, displaced since October 20, need urgent supplies of food, water and proper shelter after fleeing advances of armed groups in eastern DR Congo.  

Some already displaced families are fleeing for their lives yet again, with almost nothing. They are now surviving in squalid conditions outdoors, under trees, in school classrooms and churches where they suffer heavy downpours, with near to zero support. 

“Families that have fled are in a desperate state. They lack food to eat, clean water to drink, almost no change of clothes, and are crammed in classrooms and churches with limited access to toilets. In this situation, the children are extremely vulnerable to hunger, ill health, sexual violence and getting lost, ” warns Aline Napon, World Vision’s National Director to the Democratic Republic of Congo.   

“We need secured humanitarian access to the affected communities and a rapid scale up of emergency supplies. These must include food, cash assistance, WASH and dignity family kits (including a container to carry and store water, a bucket, soap, and basic menstrual towels),” World Vision's David Munkley in East DRC says. 

World Vision is currently on the ground attending to multiple crises in the country with the support of food and water, protection, and psychosocial needs to the displaced population, but the needs outweigh the supply.  

The crowded camps lacking the necessary sanitation facilities during the prevailing rainy season have left the affected communities susceptible to the outbreak of diseases, like cholera and dysentry. Children are missing out on meals, education, medical care, and some could die. 

Note to editor: The D.R Congo is already the world’s largest hunger crisis (27 million people, including 15.8m children, in need of humanitarian assistance.) and home to Africa’s highest number of internally displaced people at over 5.6 million. The most recent displacements only add to the number.  

ENDS.  
 
Notes to Editor:  

For further information or to organise an media interviews, please contact:  

Geoffrey Denye, World Vision DRC Emergency Communications Specialist: Email –geoffrey_denye@wvi.org 

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