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DR Congo's Children Already Threatened by Killer Epidemics, Now Comes
Coronavirus

Lisa Schlein

   GENEVA - The U.N. children's fund warns thousands of children in
   Democratic Republic of Congo are at risk of dying from epidemics other
   than coronavirus-- a situation that will likely worsen as the spread of
   COVID-19 threatens to divert scarce prevention resources. DRC
   authorities have confirmed 98 cases, including eight deaths since the
   start of the coronavirus.

   Children in DR Congo are at the mercy of many killer diseases that are
   preventable.

   Since early last year, the U.N. children's fund reports a measles
   epidemic -- the worst in the world -- has killed more than 5,300
   children under five, caused nearly 17,000 deaths from malaria and
   sickened tens of thousands of children with cholera.

   Author of [1]the report Simon Ingram says more than three million
   children in DRC are not getting the health care they need, exposing
   them to epidemics. Speaking on a video-link from Cairo, he says more
   than nine million children in the country need humanitarian assistance.

   "This situation is certain to be made worse by the arrival of
   COVID-19," he said. "The scale of the pandemic in DRC is still too
   early to measure'¦ Unless public health centers can provide
   immunization, nutrition and other essential services, the lives and
   futures of millions of Congolese children will continue to be scarred
   or destroyed by preventable diseases."

References

   1. https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/children-democratic-republic-congo-risk-killer-measles-cholera-epidemics

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