More than 200 health facilities in war-hit eastern Congo have run out of medicines due to widespread looting and supply chain disruptions during fighting this year, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Wednesday.
The finding is part of a survey conducted last month of 240 health centres and clinics in North and South Kivu provinces.
It is the largest such assessment the ICRC has carried out since a lightning advance by Rwanda-backed M23 rebels spurred fighting that has killed thousands.
Nearly nine out of 10 surveyed facilities were fully out of medicines.
Staff shortages affected 40% of facilities covered by the survey, 13% were completely nonfunctional and "many" reported consistent supply shortages going back to January, when M23 seized Goma, the largest city in the region.
Rwanda has long denied backing M23 and says its forces act in self-defense. But a group of U.N. experts said in a report in July that Kigali exercised command and control over the rebels.
The healthcare crisis has reached "a critical point" with armed conflict intensifying as humanitarian funding drops, said Francois Moreillon, head of the ICRC delegation in Democratic Republic of Congo.
The ICRC warned that the lives of residents are "at immediate risk" as malaria, HIV, tuberculosis, and other diseases go untreated.
Amani Habimana, a resident of Ruke town in Masisi territory in North Kivu province, was shot in the thigh while caught up in fighting between M23 combatants and a local militia.
Her family took her to multiple hospitals where doctors said they did not have the necessary supplies to treat her broken femur. She finally reached the city of Beni nearly two months after the shooting occurred.
Samson Muhindo Kalumbi, who works for the ICRC at the general hospital in Beni, said such cases were common, with many patients who struggle to find care ultimately arriving in Beni with infected wounds.
"We are losing many limbs due to the distance and the delay in accessing care," he said.
The ICRC on Wednesday called on all parties to ensure the safe passage of health workers in the war-hit regions, which would help alleviate staff shortages.
M23 and Congo's government did not immediately respond to requests for comment on ICRC's findings.
Türkiye, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have formalised their new defensive alliance at the grouping’s first high-level meeting held Monday i...
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan have concluded talks in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, as leade...
Qatar has discussed potential investment in Afghanistan’s oil and gas sectors and the construction of a crude o...
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan have concluded talks in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, as leaders gather for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.
Iran has reached an understanding with Oman on transit arrangements through the Strait of Hormuz, but the waterway will remain closed until the U.S. fulfils its commitments, a senior Iranian diplomat said on Saturday.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused U.S. government and Israel-aligned actors of manipulating energy markets to promote the war with Iran.
Russian strikes on the Kyiv region overnight killed 37 people, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. Zelenskyy added that the Ukrainian capital was under "virtually nonstop attack" from drones.
U.S. forces struck two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island on Sunday, with Tehran responding by launching ballistic missiles at two U.S. bases in Jordan in the first direct U.S.-Iran military escalation in weeks.
Australia has confirmed its first case of H5N1 bird flu in a mammal after the virus was detected in a dead long-nosed fur seal in South Australia, authorities said.
Malaysia is facing a sharp rise in dengue infections, with the capital Kuala Lumpur and the wider Klang Valley emerging as the main centres of concern.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Ebola outbreak has surpassed 5,000 confirmed cases, with the death toll reaching 2,378, according to the latest government data.
The Democratic Republic of Congo says the number of confirmed Ebola cases has risen to more than 5,000, with more than 2,300 deaths. Delayed detection, weak surveillance, funding shortages and conflict have allowed the virus to spread faster than in any previous epidemic at the same stage.
Australia warned on Monday (3 August) of a wider spread of H5N1 bird flu after its first confirmed mass mortality event among seabirds killed about 50 greater crested terns off the coast of South Australia, south of Adelaide.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment