Armed conflict, violence against civilians, rape, forced recruitment of children into armed forces and major population movement continue to affect large areas of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), while the situation remains fragile in the rest of the country. In close collaboration with partners, UNICEF continues to respond to the humanitarian needs of displaced populations providing affected persons with access to essential non-food items/shelter, emergency water, sanitation and hygiene and/or emergency education. The priority for the education cluster is to ensure that 300,000 conflict-affected girls and boys have access to quality education. UNICEF’s Child Protection in Emergencies program continues to provide critical care and protection for children and women affected by conflict and displacement in at least five provinces across the country. In collaboration with partners of the Health Cluster, UNICEF is providing improved health care and vaccination campaigns in emergency affected areas reaching about 500,000 people. In eastern DRC, to date a total of 31,400 children with severe acute malnutrition have been treated in around 400 health structures. Additional funding is urgently needed in order to purchase therapeutic food for the treatment of an additional 100,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition. UNICEF in DRC is also experiencing a lack of funding for critical emergency projects in Haut and Bas Uélé, where alerts on the humanitarian crisis are increasing since early 2010 as well as for projects preventing cholera and other acute diarrhoeal diseases in the endemic provinces. Without additional funding over the next few months, a drastic reduction of the overall programme would need to be done and compromise UNICEF’s capacity of humanitarian response in DRC. As part of the UNICEF Humanitarian Action Report 2010 appeal launched in February 2010, UNICEF DRC is still in need of more than US$ 112 million in 2010 to be able to respond to the needs of children and women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The response from the donor community has been limited thus far, with only US$ 20.5 million received, barely covering 15 per cent of the needs. The priority need for the next few months amount to US$ 14.1 million.
DRC Humanitarian Action Update 1 June 2010 [pdf]
