WHO claims that violence has “multiplied” the threat of illness in the DRC

The World Health Organization said Friday that the conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has “multiplied” the likelihood of illnesses including cholera, malaria, TB, and the fatal mpox virus spreading.

A WHO delegate for the DRC, Dr. Boureima Hama Sambo, told reporters in Geneva via video connection from the capital Kinshasa that fighting between Congolese security forces and M23 rebels backed by Rwanda had made the already “dire situation” worse for millions of people.

In North Kivu province, where interrupted water supplies have increased the danger of the illness spreading, the WHO recorded 600 suspected cholera cases and 14 fatalities in the past month.

The WHO’s introduction of the mpox virus vaccine in eastern DRC has also been impacted by the violence.

According to Sambo, “ninety percent of mpox patients in isolation units in Goma had to flee” and for 10 days, vaccination campaigns were suspended.

According to him, the situation is still “tense and volatile” even though vaccination campaigns were largely resumed on February 5 following the M23’s declaration of a truce.

Goma, the regional capital of a mineral-rich province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was recently taken by the Rwandan-backed M23. Between 1996 and 2003, the region had two terrible wars that claimed millions of lives.

According to the WHO, which cited information from medical institutions in and around Goma, hospitals and morgues are “overwhelmed” by the new violence, which has left at least 3,082 people injured and 843 dead.

Three South Kivu hospitals reported a further 65 wounded.