DR Congo crisis: A public health ‘nightmare’ is unfolding, warns WHO

This article is published in association with United Nations.

As UN agencies reported “relative calm” on Wednesday in the city of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), humanitarians warned that the chaos caused by advancing M23 rebel forces could fuel a region-wide health emergency.

The internet also remains down in the provincial capital and only mobile phone networks are functioning, with M23 fighters apparently in control of “a significant portion of the city” after intense clashes with the Congolese army, UN agencies reported on Wednesday.

Aid teams from the UN World Health Organization (WHO) “cannot move freely to support the hospitals, even ambulances cannot run. It’s a situation that in public health is a nightmare,” said Dr Boureima Hama Sambo, WHO Representive in DRC.

‘Vulnerable people need us’

Speaking to UN News, Dr Sambo added: “We just hope that the situation will return to normal for the Government … vulnerable people really need us.”

Conditions in provincial capital Goma remain “dire”, he added, with no running water, electricity cut and civilians trapped – including health professionals.

Echoing those concerns, a senior UN peacekeeping official warned that the level of suffering among those caught up in the violence was “unimaginable”.

Vivian van de Perre, Deputy Special Representative for Protection and Operations in the UN Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) told the Security Council late Tuesday that there was a need for “urgent and coordinated international action” to stop the fighting between Rwanda-backed M23 rebels and Congolese forces as they battled for control of Goma.

Massive displacement and fear

Before M23 fighters closed in on Goma, more than 700,000 internally displaced people lived around the provincial capital. But hundreds of thousands fled in anticipation of clashes between the Rwanda-backed rebels and DRC troops, prompting renewed alarm about the further spread of deadly disease.

“When you have as many as 700,000 people living in camps, you can imagine the human suffering,” the WHO official told UN News, pointing to “a lot of ongoing [disease] outbreaks” in North and South Kivu – two mineral-rich regions close to the Rwanda border, where dozens of armed groups have held sway for decades.

Disease ever-present

Repeated mass displacement in DRC has created ideal conditions for the spread of many endemic diseases in camps and surrounding communities in the Kivus, including cholera (more than 22,000 cases and 60 deaths in 2024), measles (close to 12,000 cases and 115 deaths) and malaria, as well as chronic child malnutrition. 

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In August last year, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern.

Despite a “robust” initial response to the mpox threat by WHO and national partners that has been coordinated from Kinshasa and field offices in Goma and South Kivu, Dr Sambo warned that mpox patients had fled at least one camp’s treatment centre and were now living now in host communities and with families.

“So, we are there’s a fear for the disease to be spreading widely in communities, but at this point we cannot say because we have not been able to get there and assess what’s happening right now.”

Child separations on the rise: UNICEF

Children’s agency UNICEF‘s Representative in DRC, Jean Francois Basse, described the situation in Goma as “extremely grave,” further complicating an already dire humanitarian crisis. 

He highlighted the severe hardships faced by the displaced population, including exposure to traumatic events, hunger, thirst, and exhaustion. 

Beyond the health risks, he said there has been a surge in the number of children separated from their parents, making them vulnerable to kidnapping, recruitment by armed groups, and sexual violence.

The agency is urgently calling for $22 million to continue providing life-saving support, including clean water, proper sanitation, medical supplies, treatment for severely malnourished children, and protection services.

Mr. Basse emphasised the need for parties to the conflict to halt the military escalation, which is exacerbating the suffering of children and worsening the already appalling humanitarian conditions.