World Vision to begin nutrition, health programme

World Vision will this week begin a new nutrition and health programme for malnourished children around Beni town, in eastern DRC, World Vision told IRIN on Thursday. The programme will include one therapeutic feeding centre (TFC) and six supplementary feeding centres (SFCs), each serving 100 children per month for the next six months. WFP will provide food for the SFC, and UNICEF will provide therapeutic milk. The project will be funded by the European Commission’s Humanitarian Office (ECHO) and World Vision Germany. Continued fighting around Beni has resulted in some 40,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) living in impoverished host communities, according to World Vision, who will also be assessing opportunities for non-food distributions and improved access to water, a major concern for these communities. The nutritional programmes will be accompanied by systemic health treatment, curative services and health education. The centres will be open to all children in need, whether from the IDP or host communities. “The DRC is Africa’s biggest crisis, with 16 million people food insecure, but we have struggled for several years to get programmes funded there,” World Vision’s Africa Relief Team official Eleanor Monbiot said. “The needs are enormous,” director of World Vision’s Africa Relief Team, Philippe Guiton, who has just returned from an assessment of the area said. “But the people are very motivated to improve their own lives, and World Vision has a considerable opportunity to bring significant change for people in eastern DRC,” he said. An office has been established in Beni town, and the health and nutrition programme will be extended to Oicha town and possibly Mutwanga in the future. “We will be working through the local village health committees as there are really no other local NGOs there,” Guiton said. “The people are very motivated - I saw a brand new health centre built by the local community, entirely out of their own initiative and donations.”