Humanitarian Intervention Urgently Needed in Katanga Province of DRC

April 10, 2006 -(International Medical Corps - USA) When an International Medical Corps nutrition and health assessment team recently went into camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, they found the humanitarian situation to be extremely alarming. Camp residents are displaying severe malnutrition ? adults as well as children. Health care services here do not meet the enormity of the needs, and water-sanitation facilities are far too few for the thousands they serve. The trauma suffered by those fleeing the violence in the Katanga region is intensified by a significant degree of sexual-gender based violence perpetrated by militia.

Since 2002, IMC has been working in DRC, where years of ongoing conflict between government and rebel militias have nearly destroyed the country?s health infrastructure. The Katanga region has been a hotbed of violence and insecurity since the beginning of the 1998 DRC war. The locally armed defense group, known throughout the DRC as the Mayi Mayi, has terrorized the Mitwaba and neighboring Pweto territory populations. Late last year, the Congolese national army launched an attack against the Mayi Mayi which resulted in massive displacement of the local population.

IMC is concerned by the seriousness of the humanitarian crisis in Katanga and is proposing a program to provide emergency care in three IDP camps surrounding the town of Mitwaba. During a three-month period, clinics and supplementary and therapeutic feeding centers will be established in each camp. Water points and latrines will be constructed and care and support will include identifying and providing for victims of sexual-gender based violence. IMC?s program, which is awaiting funding, targets approximately 10,500 people. IMC will coordinate its activities with local stakeholders and provincial authorities and together will work to bring increased attention to this humanitarian crisis in Katanga.

The IMC team was shocked to find a malnutrition rate of almost 40 percent in the camps, with severe malnutrition at 28% (international standards aim for rates of less than 5%). Many women are unable to breastfeed while malnourished adults and children display oedema (body swelling) and hair discoloration. ?These are things the textbooks tell you that you only see in children,? says IMC nutritionist Roghas Wakenge. Typically, IDPs can find enough food for only one meal a day ? consisting of ground maize flavored with salt. There is so little food for sale that Mitwaba?s market opens for only one hour a day. With outlying areas too dangerous to cultivate, only poor quality food grown in town is available. One woman traveling to the market with her two children, told the team she had only 10 Congolese francs to spend ? enough to buy 20 peanuts.

Malnutrition, malaria, upper respiratory infections and diarrheal diseases are the major causes of death in the camps. With the local hospital destroyed by the Mayi Mayi rebels, both locals and displaced alike are reliant on services such as those proposed by IMC for the most basic of care. Infection and persistent illness will continue until water and sanitation facilities are improved. The few latrines available in the camps were built by the IDPs themselves and each shared with 200 other people. No potable water sources are available in the camps.

Women and children are frequently victims in the continued conflict between the militias and government groups. Both sides are known to kidnap children and train them to fight. With nearly 1,700 gender-based violence cases reported in the last five months, 11 women and children of all ages suffer gender based violence every day. During 2005, IMC supported three hospitals and 35 health centers in South and North Kivu Provinces, which benefited more than 350,000 people, most of them displaced. IMC managed three therapeutic and 14 supplementary feeding services for the severely and moderately malnourished, while also incorporating a food security program at its nutritional centers. Demonstration gardens are established to illustrate techniques for proper plant growth and healthy food preparation reaching more than 15,000 families. IMC?s emphasis on capacity building and use of local labor in all activities enhances impact of interventions through the rapid infusion of badly needed capital and skills.

IMC?s program in Katanga would provide critical, rapid impact health and nutrition services while immediately improving access to safe water and adequate sanitation facilities. Much awaited food drops to Katanga have, in the last week, been instigated by the United Nations. IMC?s proposed activities will ensure that such measures are complimented by a humanitarian environment of curative and preventive care for every victim.

From: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/218615/114469656869.htm