DR Congo: Violence in Masisi territory causes severe malnutrition | Doctors Without Borders

« Because of the armed men, I can’t get to the fields every day, » said Fahida, the parent of a boy admitted to Masisi hospital. « When we take the road, we are afraid of meeting armed men along the way. They demand money and may even kill or rape us.”  

Health centers need support to treat malnutrition 

There are few functional medical facilities and those that are open are often short of essential medical supplies. The health authorities struggle to support local medical facilities and supply them with medications and Plumpy’Nut, the peanut-based therapeutic food used to prevent and treat malnutrition.  

When children with moderate malnutrition do not receive proper treatment in health centers, they are more likely to become severely malnourished and suffer medical complications, which are much more difficult to cure. 

“Today, there are almost as many admissions to hospital intensive care units as there are to outpatient malnutrition programs in health centers,” said Dr. Nadine Neema Mitutso, medical activities manager at Masisi Hospital. “Yet most of these hospital admissions could be avoided if children were treated in a preventive manner in health centers. »   

After a child leaves the hospital, families are faced with the same difficulties of obtaining regular and therapeutic food, so the risk of relapse is high. 

« To put an end to this vicious circle, a holistic response is needed from all actors in the region,” said Carole Zen Ruffinen, MSF project coordinator in Mweso. “Sustainable solutions need to be found to meet the growing nutritional needs of the population.”  

MSF calls on other organizations working in North Kivu to ensure a sustainable operational presence to prevent the disastrous consequences of malnutrition, and on Congolese authorities and donors to strengthen the medical response capacity of health facilities, particularly in terms of malnutrition treatment.  

Parents struggle to feed their children 

With people’s access to markets hampered, there has been a reduction in trade, while food shortages have led to a significant rise in prices. Last year, a bag of cassava flour cost around 500 Congolese francs (less than 20 cents USD); since then it has quadrupled in price and now costs the equivalent of a day’s work in the fields, even though it is not enough to feed a family for a day.