At least 10 die a day in Gety displaced camp

At least 10 people are dying every day in displacement camps in Gety, in the northeastern district of Ituri, Democratic Republic of Congo, according to a United Nations humanitarian worker.

"This is a grave situation because it's higher than the norm," Modibo Traore, the head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Bunia, capital of Ituri, said.

According to OCHA-Bunia's statistics for the last week, two-thirds of the deaths are children younger than five years, whose immune systems have been weakened by malnutrition.

Gety, 60 km southeast of Bunia, is an active militia zone, which is home to at least 45,000 internally displaced people.

The displaced fled fighting in June between the army and militia in the towns of Tcheyi and Aveba.

There has been insufficient food in the camps as priority in distribution is given to the most vulnerable children and women. On 4 August, the World Food Programme (WFP) distributed food aid to 12,591 pregnant and breast-feeding women in Gety.

OCHA said the displaced could not cultivate their fields - the planting season starts in September - during the coming season for fears of insecurity but would still depend on humanitarian aid.

"This will have a huge impact on the food security situation in Gety," Stephanie Savariaud, WFP information officer, said.

"The women are afraid of going to the fields where they might be attacked and raped by armed militias."

WFP was distributing a monthly ration of maize flour, beans, vegetable oil and salt to 43,000 people with a local NGO partner, ADESSE. Another 700 tonnes of food aid would be delivered by 31 August. Savariaud added that the target was 1,800 tonnes of food aid for each month from September to December.

In addition, the poor sanitation conditions had led to outbreaks of preventable diseases, such as cholera, causing two deaths.

At least 40 cases had been reported since the first outbreak at the end of July. However, the situation seemed to be improving, with just three cases of the disease being reported in the past week, according to OCHA.

A medical NGO, Medair, has also set up a cholera treatment centre.

Construction of 800 latrines is continuing to improve the sanitation situation under the Rapid Response Mechanism supported by OCHA, the UN Children's Fund, or UNICEF, and a French NGO, Solidarité. Already, 200 latrines have been built.

To complement these efforts, Médecins Sans Frontières-Switzerland has started a therapeutic nutrition centre for the care of infants, in addition to providing care to the victims of sexual violence.

With one month left before the school year begins, Unicef and Solidarité are building 47 classrooms; most of the schools in the villages of the displaced are entirely or partially destroyed.

While humanitarian aid is beginning to reach the displaced, there are still enormous challenges posed by the lack of infrastructure: there are no roads and it is expensive airlifting aid.

Moreover, some of the displaced are still hiding in forests.

"There is a need for sustainable help in all sectors, not only now but even when security prevails to enable the people to rebuild their lives," Savariaud said.

[Countdown in Congo]