“This hunger crisis risks worsening if urgent action is not taken,” said Cynthia Jones, WFP director in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
He added that even families who have provided shelter to those forced to flee are already living at emergency levels of food insecurity, “sharing their last meals with displaced neighbors, pushing them all closer to absolute desperation.”
Deprived of water and medicine
Since violence broke out in South Kivu, health facilities have been looted, medicine is not available and schools remain closed. Affected communities are deprived of clean water, healthcare and livelihoods. Education has been severely affected and more than 391,000 children are out of school, according to the WFP.
As a result, many have also fled to neighboring countries in search of food and shelter. Teams are supporting 71,000 new arrivals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Burundi and 1,000 in Rwanda, with hot meals.
Lack of funding threatens aid
WFP is seeking to reach the most vulnerable displaced families and host communities in South Kivu with a survival package of cereals, pulses, vegetable oil, iodized salt and specialized nutrition to prevent malnutrition in young children and pregnant or lactating women.
While some food supplies are already pre-positioned in the conflict zone, the agency says it is urgently seeking $67 million to continue assistance for three months to those forced to flee the DRC and $350 million to maintain operations across all programs in the country.
“Without urgent support and additional funding, we cannot respond to a crisis that is on the brink of a hunger catastrophe,” Ms Jones said.