In the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the food situation is worsening, with one in two children suffering from malnutrition
Published: Jun 28, 2023 Reading time: 4 minutesDR Congo has been facing a food crisis for more than two decades. A staggering 6 million children in the country are suffering from malnutrition. In the South Kivu region, where we work, one in two children is malnourished. Unfortunately, due to intensifying armed conflict in the region, the humanitarian situation there has deteriorated rapidly since the beginning of this year.
What are the causes of widespread child malnutrition in DR Congo?
- Extreme poverty - 60 million people live on less than $2.15 a day (CZK 46.50)
- Protracted internal conflict - people flee fighting and repeatedly abandon their homes, livelihoods and fields; there are 6.3 million internal refugees in DR Congo
- Lack of infrastructure – e.g. lack of roads and paths makes supply and trade difficult, inadequate health system fails to catch malnutrition in its early stages, poor access to drinking water causes diarrhoea in children, etc.
- Lack of education – 44% of women in DR Congo are illiterate, lacking even basic knowledge of nutritional needs
People in Need has been helping people in DR Congo for 15 years, and we are renowned in the region for our comprehensive and effective programmes to combat child malnutrition.
- 236,850 packs of Plumpy'Nut nutritional formula
- 675 packets of therapeutic milk for young children in the acute phase of malnutrition
And in total, we helped 280,301 people.
Join our Club of Friends and help us help children in one of the poorest and most dangerous countries in the world:
- For CZK 50, we will screen 5,000 children and breastfeeding women and identify those who need medical help to beat malnutrition
- For CZK 185, we will provide a therapeutic meal for one severely malnourished child for a week
- For CZK 750, we provide comprehensive, month-long treatment for a severely malnourished child
Medicines, therapeutic milk and Plumpy'Nut - we treat child malnutrition, but we also try to prevent it
Our colleagues travel on motorbikes in inaccessible terrain to supply remote health centres, taking days to travel, and we are often the only ones in the area delivering aid.
Plumpy'Nut Therapeutic Milk and Nutritious Peanut Paste are therapeutic remedies for young children in the acute phase of malnutrition who can no longer process a normal diet.
The medicines help to cure the diseases that attack a child's weakened body through malnutrition. Often, the children do not die of starvation directly, but from associated diseases—most often pneumonia.
In DR Congo we treat malnutrition with Plumpy'Nut
Equipping health centres, training staff and women's self-help groups
Simple health centres in rural areas have the essential equipment for diagnosing and treating malnutrition and have maternity and postnatal wards. Apart from health tools, they often lack basic equipment such as chairs, water containers, and mosquito nets—we transport these to the centres. Trained doctors usually visit the health centres occasionally, and patient care rests with the nurses, brothers, and midwives we help train.
Women live tough lives in DR Congo; in addition to difficult access to education and health care and suffering frequent sexual violence, women are usually the sole caregivers in the household. They also often complain that they do not have the time and opportunity to meet to exchange experiences and tips on livelihoods. Women's groups operate within health centres, and we train community leaders and support them to organise talks and debates.
Sample cooking classes - we cook nutritious and tasty porridge from available ingredients
A cooking demonstration is a welcome social and educational event. In the communities where we work, our colleagues demonstrate on an open fire the process of preparing a tasty and nutritious children's porridge made from flour, crushed dried fish, cassava leaf broth, palm oil, salt and sugar. The porridge contains inexpensive and locally available ingredients and is easy to prepare; repeating the lessons ensures that all the women present will remember the procedure and prepare the porridge at home. A child who enjoys such porridge at least twice a week will not suffer from malnutrition.
Repairing water sources
Polluted drinking water is a prevalent cause of diarrhoeal diseases, which particularly affect young children, causing dehydration and demineralisation of the body and exacerbating pervasive malnutrition. Particularly in high rural areas, access to water is a problem, with women and children spending much of their time travelling to fetch water from muddy springs. We test the water from these sources for bacteria and repair water sources so they can be tapped free of silt and sediment.
Sources of information:
PIN DRC Insecurity exacerbates the malnutrition crisis in eastern DRC
The World Bank in DRC, overview
Democratic Republic of the Congo Population clock (live)
WFP Democratic Republic of the Congo, Situation Report #47 – 1 June 2023
