DR Congo: Weekly Humanitarian Update, 01 - 05 May 2017

OVER US$ 57 MILLION ALLOCATED BY THE DRC HUMANITARIAN FUND IN 2016

According to the annual report released last weekend, the Fund funded 66 projects. This allocation covered all DRC provinces in all areas of humanitarian intervention: essential household items and shelter; water, sanitation and hygiene; education; logistics; nutrition; protection; health and food security. $ 45.4 million of the funds allocated to humanitarian projects in 2016 were provided by six donors, namely Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom; their contributions accounted for 65% of last year's Humanitarian Fund projections of $ 70 million. 24 projects were implemented by national non-governmental organizations (NGOs), 34 by international NGOs and 8 by United Nations Agencies. Under the leadership of the Humanitarian Coordinator and co-management of OCHA and UNDP, the DRC Humanitarian Fund financially supports humanitarian projects implemented by national and international NGOs as well as United Nations Agencies aimed at saving lives. Between 2006 and 2016, the DRC Humanitarian Fund received $ 968 million from 12 donors and allocated $ 950 million. These various allocations have helped over 70 million people through 1,316 projects. In 2016, about 1.8 million people were assisted through projects funded by the Humanitarian Fund.

KASAI REGION : CONTINUED VIOLENCE FORCES MORE PEOPLE INTO DISPLACEMENT

Violence is continuing to affect the lives of civilians across the five central provinces of Kasai, Kasai Central, Kasai Oriental, Lomami and Sankuru. OCHA estimates that more than one million people, in majority women and children, have been displaced since violence hit the region in August 2016. One of the many devastating consequences of this crisis is that over the past eleven months, more than 100,000 children have missed out on the routine vaccination programme in Central Kasai alone, according to health authorities (see our latest situation report).

LUALABA : SUSPECTED CASES YELLOW FEVER REPORTED

Since the beginning of 2017, some 40 suspected cases of yellow fever have been recorded in the southern Province of Lualaba according to local health authorities. In August 2016, over 7.5 million people aged over 9 months were vaccinated against the disease in Kasai, Kasai Central, Kongo Central, Kwango and Lualaba after confirmation of 74 cases from Angola.

TANGANYIKA : OVER 37,000 DISPLACED PEOPLE IN KALEMIE DUE TO INSECURITY

Since 29 April, a new wave of intercommunity violence opposing Luba and Twa forced 12,000 people living north of Kalemie to seek refuge in Kalemie city. 22 people were injured, 4 died, and 300 houses were set on fire in this latest wave of violence according to the National Commission for Refugees. Insecurity forced some 25,000 additional IDPs hosted in three spontaneous displacement sites to move to Kalemie and also forced the World Food Programme to postpone the distribution of a one-month food ration in favor of over 12,000 IDPs hosted in one of these three displacement sites.

HAUT - LOMAMI : POLIO CASE CONFIRMED AND WORRISOME PROGRESSION OF CHOLERA IN BUKAMA TERRITORY

The case of wild poliovirus (type 2) was confirmed by the national institute of biomedical research (INRB). WHO said that further analysis will be carried out in South Africa to clearly determine the resurgence of the disease. In May 2016, the provision of oral vaccine against type 2 polio (wild poliovirus) ended in some rural medical facilities which may have triggered reactions derived from the vaccine. Considering the high contagiousness of the disease, it is likely to expand to neighboring Bukama, Kikondja and Mukanga health zones). A first case of wild poliovirus was detected by the INRB in the Province of Maniema. As for cholera, the trend increased from 1 suspected case recorded between 03 and 09 April 2017 to 20 suspected cases recorded between 17 and 23 April 2017. According to epidemiologists, the warning threshold (10 cases per week) was reached in the Bukama health zone. From 01 January to 23 April, the province recorded 183 suspected cases of cholera. In 2016, it had reported 2,621 cases, including 57 deaths.