WFP saves 5 million from Congo hunger
With widening violence, large scale
displacement, poor harvests and endemic poverty nearly doubling the number of
acutely food insecure people in DRC this year to 13.1 million, the World Food Programme
(WFP) significantly expanded its operations, reaching a record 5 million, a
twofold increase from 2017.
Building on a surge in food
assistance that averted famine in Kasai and Kasai Central, the UN agency
quickly scaled up its interventions in the troubled eastern provinces of Ituri,
Tanganyika and North and South Kivu, where flaring conflicts forced many more
people from their homes.
Assistance was provided in the
form of commodities and cash, and specially fortified foods for the treatment
and prevention of acute malnutrition, which affects 4.6 million children
countrywide.
Improved funding is allowing the
restoration of full food rations to some WFP recipients who had had to make do
with half the programmed quantities for many months.
“This has been a year of multiple
crises and considerable suffering for millions of Congolese,” said WFP Country
Director Claude Jibidar. “We are grateful to donors for their strong support
during a period of record needs, and count on their continued backing during
what will surely be a challenging 2019.”
Two deadly outbreaks of Ebola
complicated DRC’s humanitarian landscape in 2018. The first, declared in May in
north-western Equateur province, was extinguished within three months thanks to
vigorous containment efforts by responders led by the Ministry of Health.
WFP food assistance for confirmed
and suspected sufferers, discharged patients and their families, and “contacts”
of victims helped limit risky population movements and was fundamental. The
agency’s role as UN humanitarian logistics lead and the deployment of expert
staff, aircraft and other assets also contributed significantly.
A subsequent outbreak, declared
in August and now the second largest on record globally, has seen more than 540
reported cases in North Kivu and Ituri provinces, with 300 lives lost. Again,
WFP has been central to the response, providing food assistance to 86,000
affected people as well as wide-ranging logistical support. This epidemic could
spread elsewhere in DRC – and beyond – because access is hampered by rebel
attacks, a highly mobile population and local communities’ fears about Ebola
treatments.
Humanitarian response in DRC has
been further complicated by the recent expulsion of some 380,000 of its
nationals from northern Angola to the already severely food insecure Kasai
region. WFP provides cash and nutrition products at border arrival points, and
food rations for transiting and host families.
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