Daniel Itai – The Zimbabwe Daily
Kinshasa, DRC – The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is set to receive US$22 million in humanitarian aid from the European Union to help fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the central African country is not only battling against COVID-19 but also against a new wave of Ebola and a measles pandemic which has already claimed over 6 000 lives since 2019.
UNICEF warns that the country is also threatened by a potential resurgence of polio, chickenpox, yellow fever, hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, and meningitis.
“The measures needed to slow COVID-19 are having an impact on the overall measles response, including transporting vaccines, assembling dedicated teams, and launching vaccination campaigns.
Every delay and every obstacle increases the risk of the measles epidemic continuing to spread, killing more children,” said Emmanuel Lampaert, DRC’s coordinator for Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders).
DRC has recorded over 4 000 COVID-19 cases and 90 deaths. Unknown militia also seem to be worsening the situation as they continue to destabilize the progress being made by burning houses and health care services.
