March 28, 2024 19:33 (IST)
Follow us:
facebook-white sharing button
twitter-white sharing button
instagram-white sharing button
youtube-white sharing button
Delhi High Court rejects PIL seeking removal of Arvind Kejriwal as CM | MHA extends AFSPA in 3 districts of Arunachal Pradesh for 6 months | Encourage fair, transparent and legal process: US comments again on Kejriwal's arrest | India and China discuss border disengagement: EAM | Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar discusses defence, trade while interacting with Malaysian leaders
Coronavirus poses latest threat to battered health system in DR Congo

Coronavirus poses latest threat to battered health system in DR Congo

India Blooms News Service | @indiablooms | 01 Apr 2020, 07:21 am

New York/IBNS: The looming threat of the new coronavirus disease COVID-19 is just the latest challenge to the beleaguered health care system in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which is struggling with deadly measles and cholera epidemics that have killed thousands of children over the past year, the UN children’s fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.

As the DRC has also been battling an Ebola outbreak in the volatile eastern region, UNICEF fears mounting cases of COVID-19 will further strain the public health system in a country that is among the most at risk in Africa.

“Coronavirus will most likely divert the available national health capacity and resources, and leave millions of children affected by measles, malaria, polio and many other killer diseases,” said UNICEF Representative Edouard Beigbeder, speaking from the capital, Kinshasa.

While the DRC has so far recorded nearly 100 cases of COVID-19 and eight deaths, the measles epidemic has generated 332,000 cases and killed over 5,300 children since early 2019, making it the worst in the world. At the same time, 31,000 cases of cholera were reported during this period.

Health system ‘on life support’And although the Ebola outbreak garnered international attention and has been contained, UNICEF said it had “unfortunate side-effects” as resources to fight childhood killers like measles, cholera and malaria, instead went towards stemming the disease.

Strengthening the battered healthcare system in the DRC is vital to protect young lives, a new UNICEF report titled On Life Support  argues.

Medical services there are ill-equipped and underfunded, trained staff are in short supply, and around half of all facilities lack safe water and sanitation.

UNICEF estimates more than nine million children across the country require humanitarian assistance, including health care.

Most live in the three eastern provinces affected by the Ebola outbreak, where many doctors and nurses chose to take better-paying jobs in Ebola response.

Ongoing militia violence in these areas – including attacks against health centres –forced nearly one million people to flee their homes in 2019, thus making it harder for families to access health facilities.

“Unless health facilities have the means to deliver immunization, nutrition and other essential services, including in remote areas of the country, we risk seeing the lives and futures of many Congolese children scarred or destroyed by preventable diseases”, Mr Beigbeder warned.


UNICEF is calling on the Congolese Government to allocate more public funding for basic health care services that support pregnant women, newborns and young children, and to prioritise the strengthening of routine immunization.Increase support for public health

Currently, less than six per cent of the annual budget goes towards healthcare, which must change, according to Xavier Crespin, the agency’s Chief of Health in the country.

“Instead of expending huge efforts and resources on an ad hoc response to individual health emergencies, those same resources should be directed towards strengthening the national health system,” he said.

“That means a big investment in routine immunization, in adequate staffing and salaries, and in equipment that is currently in extremely short supply, especially outside urban areas.”

UNICEF is also urging donors to support national efforts to improve routine health care services in order to better protect children against communicable diseases.

Photo caption and credit: UNICEF/Karel Prinsloo A mother holds her 3-month-old baby as he receives a vaccination against measles at a health centre in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Support Our Journalism

We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism

IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.

Support objective journalism for a small contribution.