Around 260,000 children in DR Congo’s Kasai region suffering severe
acute malnutrition
UNICEF/Tremeau
Saint Martyr Health Clinic, in Kananga, Kasaï region,
Democratic Republic of Congo, during a malnutrition screening (January 2018)
13 March 2019
More than a quarter of a million children in
the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – and thousands
of others who have fled with their families to nearby provinces – are suffering
severe and acute malnutrition, and need lifesaving treatment, said the UN
Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on Wednesday.
Between 2016 and 2018, large numbers of people
were displaced from their homes due to militia-led violence and insecurity in
the Kasais, fueling rights abuses and high levels of malnutrition among
children.
While pockets of insecurity still remain,
thousands who had fled, have now returned to their communities: “We have been
working tirelessly with partners and local communities in the Kasai region to
support the slow recovery process following years of conflict and violence that
have devastated children and families,” said Gianfranco Rotigliano, UNICEFRepresentative in the DRC.
At the same time, at least 300,000 Congolese
are returning from Angola, causing additional stress on health centers, schools
and other basic services in Kasai and compromising access to essential and
lifesaving services for many children.
“We are concerned that recent gains for
children might be lost in this fragile situation, now that we have many people
returning to the region from Angola”, the UNICEF Representative pointed out.
Over the last two years, UNICEF and its
partners have treated 200,000 severely malnourished children in the Kasai
region and rehabilitated 500 burned-down or looted classrooms so children could
return to school.
It has also assisted more than 100,000
children with psychosocial support and education material and supported more
than 5,000 unaccompanied children and those associated with militias, helping
to reintegrate them back into their families and communities.
Moreover, since 2017, UNICEF and its
partners in Kasai have vaccinated nearly four million children against
measles and yellow fever; organized access to health care for more than 163,000
people; provided 900,000 people with water, sanitation and hygiene kits in
cholera-prone zones; secured access to community spaces for learning for 78,000
children; provided essential household items to nearly 150,000 people; and
reached more than six million people with key life-saving messages.
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