UNICEF Alarms on Child Cholera Cases in DR Congo

In the DR Congo's problematic North-Kivu region, UNICEF on Friday raised the alarm about child cholera, predicting that more than 8,000 children under the age of five had contracted the disease this year.

According to UNB, the eastern province has been devastated by violence for almost three decades, leading to significant population displacement.

According to UNICEF, who cited a health ministry report, there have been 31,342 cases worldwide to already in 2023. Many of the victims are youngsters, and North Kivu is the worst-hit area, with 21,400 cases only there.

"The size of the cholera outbreak and the devastation it threatens should ring alarm bells," said Shameza Abdulla, UNICEF DRC senior emergency coordinator, based in Goma.

"If urgent action is not taken within the next months, there is a significant risk that the disease will spread to parts of the country that have not been affected for many years," Abdulla said.

"There is also the danger it will continue to spread in displacement sites where systems are already overwhelmed and the population -- especially children -- is highly vulnerable to illness and -- potentially -- death."

UNICEF says the more than 8,000 cases of under fives infected this year in North-Kivu are more than six times as many as for all of last year.

A 2017 epidemic of the disease affected large swathes of the country, including the capital Kinshasa with some 55,000 cases and more than 1,100 deaths.

In June, the International Organization for Migration said that during the first quarter of this year, war in the east had caused around one million people to be displaced.

According to UNICEF, the camps housing the displaced lack the capacity to handle the situation, and the appalling circumstances are aiding in the spread of cholera.

In an effort to reach 1.8 million people by the end of the year, including one million children, the organization has made a request for $62.5 million in financing to strengthen its preventive and response actions to stop the spread of the illness.

The monetary appeal has only received 9% of its initial funding, it continued.