Alarming Crisis in the DRC: Over 1M Children Face Acute Malnutrition

The World Health Organization (WHO) has sounded the alarm on the worsening humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Anadolu Agency reported yesterday.

According to the organization, if immediate action is not taken, over 1 million children will suffer from acute malnutrition.

Describing the situation as “catastrophic,” WHO’s senior emergency officer Adelheid Marschang painted a grim picture of the country’s plight. The DRC is currently facing “escalating conflict and violence, leading to mass displacement, widespread disease, gender-based violence, and severe mental trauma, particularly in the eastern part of the country.”

With 25.4 million people in need of humanitarian aid, the DRC has the highest number of people requiring assistance globally. Yet, Marschang lamented, it remains “one of the most underfunded crises.”

The mass displacement of 7.4 million people has overwhelmed the country’s water and sanitation systems, leading to outbreaks of cholera, measles, meningitis, mpox, and plague, further exacerbated by severe flooding and landslides.

Citing the latest food insecurity report, Marschang warned that 40.8 million people in the DRC face serious food shortages, with 15.7 million facing severe food insecurity and a higher risk of malnutrition and infectious diseases.

The WHO has reached 460,000 people with emergency health services in conflict-affected areas, but Marschang stressed that humanitarian access remains “severely constrained” by military presence, calling for “sustained and unimpeded” access to restore peace and address the country’s dire needs.