from JEAN KASSONGO in Kinshasa, DRC
DRC Bureau
KINSHASA, (CAJ News) – THE worsening security and economic crises in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has left the healthcare system on the brink of collapse.
The provinces of North and South Kivu, where the army and rebel groups are involved in running battles, are affected owing to the armed conflicts and the drastic decrease in funding for humanitarian organisations.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has raised concern after its teams carried out a study in April and May 2025 of 109 health centres in North and South Kivu, where the agency operates.
The results depict the overall risk of disease or the health of mothers and children, the sick or the wounded and victims of sexual abuse.
In the areas most exposed to the violence and economic strain, part of the health-care system risks collapse, with devastating consequences for millions of people, the Red Cross lamented.
“Today, with the very limited access to treatment and medication, the risk of people in North and South Kivu dying if they are wounded, or simply have diarrhoea, has never been so high,” said François Moreillon, head of the ICRC’s delegation in the DRC.
The violence and fighting in the east have led to a security situation that hinders the movement of sick people, limits the transport of the wounded and makes medical supplies hard to deliver.
Healthcare workers have fled and medical facilities have been looted or destroyed.
ICRC reports that in the first quarter of 2025, most medical facilities saw a 50% drop in the number of visits for children under five years old compared to the same period the previous year.
The number of children vaccinated also fell from 67 000 in the first quarter of 2023 to just over 29 000 in 2025.
Etienne Penlap, the health coordinator for the ICRC in the DRC, said there had been a four-fold increase in the number of stillbirths in the facilities included in the study, particularly in North Kivu.
“This illustrates how hard it is for mothers to access health centres for ante- and postnatal visits,” Penlap said.
“We fear the worst in terms of vaccine coverage for newborns and for mothers and children in a region where there are many epidemics and endemic diseases.”
ICRC reports a seven-fold increase compared to 2024 in mental health and psychosocial support visits for victims of armed and sexual violence in the facilities included in the study.
Overall, in the first quarter of 2025, some 2 351 wounded people were treated in ICRC-supported hospitals, which is nearly as many as were treated in all of 2024.
That represents a 172-percent increase over 2024.
– CAJ News