A humanitarian disaster is brewing in North Kivu, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where around a million people have fled their homes in the past 12 months to escape fighting linked to the group’s resurgence. armed M23. This serious crisis is exacerbating an already critical humanitarian situation in the province.
Displaced people, as well as those living in remote communities isolated by the fighting, andare exposed to numerous health risks, says the international medical organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF), whose teams work in the area. After denouncing that the current humanitarian response is grossly inadequate, MSF calls on the international community and the authorities to urgently intensify their efforts to meet the needs of the population.
“The situation in North Kivu is alarming,” says Raphaël Piret, MSF representative in the Democratic Republic of Congo. “Just look at the terrible conditions in which people live on the outskirts of the provincial capital, Goma, to realize that the response is not up to the needs, despite the fact that there are many humanitarian organizations working in the eastern DRC.”
Bad life conditions
In the last few months alone, hundreds of thousands of people have fled their homes and villages. to live with host families or in informal places. Around Goma, makeshift shelters made of plastic sheeting or mosquito nets stretch as far as the eye can see, while others have found refuge in churches and schools.
“We arrived here in June of last year and we settled in a disused church in Kanyaruchinya with about 150 other families.”says Celestine, 65. “For the last eight months our daily life has been a series of difficulties sleeping, eating and dressing. Since the beginning of the year there has only been one food distribution and since my name was not on the list, I received nothing. We make do as we can with what we find in the surrounding fields.”
Some 3,000 shelters were built on the outskirts of Goma last year, currently housing about 15,000 people. However, These figures are small compared to the magnitude of the needs of the population.
“This is a drop in the ocean compared to the hundreds of thousands of displaced people currently camped around the city gates.”says Abdou Musengetsi, project coordinator for MSF in Goma. “The families They have been at the mercy of the rains, epidemics and violence for months, as evidenced by the troubling number of victims of sexual violence we see every day at our medical facilities.”
DSince May 2022, MSF teams have been working in informal displacement sites around Goma, providing free medical care, transporting drinking water, and building latrines and showers.
However, much remains to be done. In Bulengo, an informal settlement 10 km west of Goma, there is only one latrine for almost 500 people, less than one-tenth of what is required to meet basic humanitarian emergency standards. In the neighboring settlement of Lushagala, displaced people survive on just over a liter of drinking water a day, well below the recommended 15 liters of water per day.
Inadequate and overcrowded shelters and a lack of clean water and latrines create ideal conditions for the spread of disease. In recent months, measles and cholera broke out in places north of Goma, in Nyiragongo territory, while the health situation has become critical in Bulengo and Lushagala, with suspected cases of measles and cholera multiplying in recent weeks.
“In March, in Bulengo alone, we treated about 2,500 patients with cholera symptoms and more than 130 girls and boys with measles,” explica The analyst.
“It’s a shocking situation”say Piret. “Our teams they are working tirelessly to fight cholera and deal with the increasing cases of measles, but they are completely overwhelmed. Faced with the humanitarian and health disaster unfolding before our eyes, it is urgent to intensify assistance to displaced persons, both in Goma and elsewhere”.
Currently, an estimated 2.5 million people are displaced throughout North Kivu province, according to the United Nations (UN). As the fighting continues, more people will be forced to leave their homes and will need help to survive.
“All parties involved in the humanitarian response they must be more reactive and more flexible to respond quickly to people’s needs and adapt to changing population movements”affirms Piret.
Restricted access to medical care
North of Goma, MSF teams are also seeing the consequences of the crisis in the territories of Masisi, Rutshuru and Lubero. As the fighting fronts shifted, most of the main routes into the region were cut off. Transport links to this agricultural region, known as “the barns of the province”, they are essential for trade in North Kivu.
Isolated from the rest of the province, the inhabitants they have not been able to sell their crops nor buy anything except a few essentials, the price of which has doubled.
many medical facilities they have run out of medicines due to supply problems; In Rutshuru territory, for example, some health centers have not received medicine for months. In these territories, access to healthcare was already difficult, but is now even more difficult due to the lack of functioning health facilities and the cost of healthcare, which is unaffordable for many people due to the economic crisis. current.
“Due to lack of financial means, most of the population simply no longer has access to medical care”says Monique Doux, MSF project coordinator in Rutshuru. “They have to choose between eating or receiving medical treatment. Even those who can afford treatment have to find a functional health center, which can require several hours of walking.”
With rising prices and deteriorating access to healthcare, food insecurity is worsening in the province. According to the UN, three million people, that is, more than a third of the population of North Kivu, are currently at risk of food insecurity.
“In the health centers we support in the Rutshuru territory, we treat more than 8,500 girls and boys with malnutrition in 2022, almost 70% more than in 2021”says Sweet.
In Rutshuru territory, as in Lubero and Masisi, there is a glaring lack of organizations to provide much-needed help. “It is as if people have been abandoned”says Sweet. “For months Doctors Without Borders has been the only humanitarian organization working in Rutshuru territory, but the needs of the population far exceed our ability to respond.”
“There is no time to lose”say Piret. “The humanitarian community and the authorities must redouble their efforts to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches the people who need it, wherever they are, while all parties to the conflict must commit to facilitating access for humanitarian organizations.”
MSF’s emergency response
Doctors Without Borders launched an emergency response to provide medical care to displaced people in Rutshuru territory in April 2022. Following the arrival of the first flow of displaced people in Goma in May 2022, MSF emergency teams provided care health, installed water supplies and improved hygiene conditions in informal settlements: first in Munigi and Kanyaruchinya, and more recently in Bulengo and Lushagala.
In February 2023, MSF teams provided medical care and humanitarian aid to some 30,000 temporarily displaced people in the town of Mweso. Currently, MSF teams are reinforcing their response to displaced people in Kayna, Lubero territory, and in Minova (South Kivu).
Meanwhile, MSF medical teams maintain their regular activities in Goma, Rutshuru, Kibirizi, Bambo, Binza, Mweso, Masisi and Walikale, providing essential medical care to thousands of people in North Kivu province.
