Save the Children releases latest update

In a July update from the emergency unit of international NGO Save the Children, key issues affecting children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are highlighted, among the most serious being lack of health care, recruitment by armed forces, food insecurity, and separation from and loss of family, due largely to conflict, poverty and HIV/AIDS. In the domain of child soldiers, since August 1999 Save the Children and the government of South Kivu have been managing the only demobilisation transit site in Kivu, with more than 250 children reintegrated thus far. Training in small income-generating projects was provided to 500 demobilised children in 32 military camps in Kinshasa. Save the Children has also run seminars focused on the reintegration and protection of former child soldiers and the prevention of child recruitment. Save the Children’s HIV/AIDS programme works with local NGOs and provincial authorities to promote awareness, security in blood transfusion, training of risk groups, and condom distribution, particularly in South Kivu and northern Katanga provinces. Save the Children’s health programme, with a special focus on children, women and other vulnerable groups, has involved the rehabilitation of health facilities, training sessions for medical staff on prescriptions and management of drugs, and support of management of stocks of medicines, food and non-food items. In terms of food security, in addition to conducting a household food economy assessment, Save the Children has distributed hoes and seeds in collaboration with the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). In the domain of education, Save the Children has helped rehabilitate and re-equip schools to increase access to primary and secondary education in North and South Kivu provinces. For the complete report go to http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/sudan/index.html.