Preventing and treating cholera in Goma

CERF | DRC | 2025

DR Congo. North Kivu province. Kishala Mwamedi, headteacher at Kihindo Primary School, addressed his pupils one morning this June.

His message: how to keep healthy in the midst of a cholera epidemic. When to wash your hands. Which symptoms to look out for. And where to go if you or a loved one is sick.

The Democratic Republic of Congo is facing its worst cholera outbreak in years. From January to June this year, some 33,800 cases and 757 deaths were recorded. Poor infrastructure, bad weather, and a lack of security all contribute to these horrible statistics.

In North Kivu, families displaced by violence are beginning to return home after fleeing conflict and instability. But these home villages often lack safe water or basic health services. This leaves people trying to rebuild their lives highly vulnerable to cholera.

Among those most at risk are children returning to damaged schools.

“Before we fled, the school had 16 classrooms,” said Kishala. “After the conflict, we found only 13 still standing—three had been destroyed in the violence.”

In March 2025, an anticipatory action framework for cholera in DRC was activated after rising cases in Goma, North Kivu met the pre-set thresholds. Cholera is endemic in the area, and data from the national cholera program showed a steady increase over three weeks.

To respond quickly and stop the spread, $750,000 from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) was released to UN agencies and partners to help protect over 120,000 people at risk. Activities included improving access to safe water, upgrading WASH infrastructure, sharing hygiene information, and ensuring early detection and treatment of cholera cases.

“With students crammed into overcrowded classrooms, we recorded 43 cases of cholera here at Kihindo Primary,” he explained. Kishala now oversees 951 pupils, and with CERF funding UNICEF is providing him and other community health workers the information and supplies they need to share vital information on how to stay safe.

Eliminating contamination: reducing risk

Near Goma, another threat emerged: when displaced people started to go home the abandoned latrines and vacant houses left behind became sources of contamination for host communities who still lived there.

Furaha Kanyere, a mother in Lushagala, near Goma, described the conditions: “My children suffered from diarrhoea because of all the germs. Flies would come out of the abandoned latrines and land on our food.”

“It’s a serious contamination risk, especially for cholera,” said Esther Van Der Woerdt, UNICEF Cholera Specialist. “That’s why we use heat and chlorine, and we fill in the latrine pits to prevent any disease from spreading through wastewater.”

UNICEF and partners, again with CERF support, carried out critical sanitation work: de-sludging and disinfecting latrines, applying lime and chlorine, and filling the pits. These efforts are essential to eliminating sources of contamination.

“We’re relieved that the pits have been covered,” says Furaha.

Getting sick people rapid treatment

CERF funding also supported rapid treatment for cholera patients, with dedicated community outreach workers. Nyandwi Kibiswa, a UNICEF-supported community outreach worker managed a rehydration point in Shasha, North Kivu province.

“We prepare oral rehydration solution here for cholera patients. Each day, we see between four and six people,” explains Nyandwi.

Treatment also provides another opportunity to teach people safe habits. “We raise awareness of the five key moments for handwashing and encourage people to come and get treated when they show symptoms,” she adds.

Saving lives

In Kirotshe, Zawadi had just returned home with her two young daughters after a year displaced in Goma. But her four-year-old, Alice, soon contracted cholera due to a lack of safe water in the village.

It was a terrifying experience for the young mother.

“After fetching water twice, my daughter told me her stomach hurt. I tried treating her with some leaves, but people advised me to take her to the hospital,” Zawadi explains. “I was so afraid she might die — she’s the apple of my eye.”

Alice recovered, and water purification has been carried out in her community since then.

With CERF funding, the combined efforts of local leaders, educators, health workers and parents will continue to save lives and, hopefully, prevent the suffering Alice and her mother lived through.

Posted August 2025

Lightly edited from an original story from UNICEF DRC

More information on these CERF allocations.

Pooled Fund impact stories