International response “not enough”

The international response to the DRC situation was “not enough” to counter the devastating accumulation of Congo’s crisis, a report by a joint WHO/UNICEF mission said. “Even where there is international support, it is covering a fraction of the vulnerable,” it noted. In health, external support without which health services simply could not function, reached less than one third of health zones, and even in these, coverage of essential priorities was far from complete, the report stated. It said that international attention had focused on those areas and populations directly affected by the war but the reality was that the vast majority of Congo’s 50 million people lived on around 20 cents per person per day and ate less than two thirds of the calories a day needed to maintain health.

“Long deprived of state support, with dramatically reduced access to income, without meaningful external aid, the resources and resilience of Congolese households have simply run out,” the report said. Unless Congolese households were supported by increasing income and reducing the barriers to essential social services, “the situation will continue to spiral down rapidly”, it warned.