Food and nutrition security in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is subject to the relentless impact of conflict, epidemics and climate events that have persisted in the country for decades, further compounded by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Lack of infrastructure and investment in agriculture, ...health and human capital development combine to impede progress towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals 2 and 17. While there are several legal instruments and policies that promote food and nutrition security, poor coordination, weak national capacity and exponential population growth present serious obstacles to the achievement of zero hunger. Political instability and siloed sectoral responses to humanitarian and development needs have also affected results to date.
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INTRODUCTION: Health service use among the public can decline during outbreaks and had been predicted among low and middle-income countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2020, the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) started implementing public health measures across Kin...shasa, including strict lock-down measures in the Gombe health zone.
METHODS: Using monthly time series data from the DRC Health Management Information System (January 2018 to December 2020) and interrupted time series with mixed effects segmented Poisson regression models, we evaluated the impact of the pandemic on the use of essential health services (outpatient visits, maternal health, vaccinations, visits for common infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases) during the first wave of the pandemic in Kinshasa. Analyses were stratified by age, sex, health facility and lockdown policy (i.e, Gombe vs other health zones).
RESULTS: Health service use dropped rapidly following the start of the pandemic and ranged from 16% for visits for hypertension to 39% for visits for diabetes. However, reductions were highly concentrated in Gombe (81% decline in outpatient visits) relative to other health zones. When the lock-down was lifted, total visits and visits for infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases increased approximately twofold. Hospitals were more affected than health centres. Overall, the use of maternal health services and vaccinations was not significantly affected.
CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in important reductions in health service utilizsation in Kinshasa, particularly Gombe. Lifting of lock-down led to a rebound in the level of health service use but it remained lower than pre-pandemic levels.
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Aupres des jeunes, adolescents et la population dans les ZS de Kanzahla et de Tshikapa du 12 au 17/9/2018
Child Friendly Spaces (CFSs) are used by humanitarian agencies as a means to promote protection and psychosocial wellbeing for children in emergency settings. World Vision International together with Columbia University is conducting a series of studies to investigate the effectiveness of CFSs in va...rious humanitarian contexts in order to document evidence of the positive effects they have in relation to child wellbeing and protection, to identify good practice in their design and implementation and to develop improved monitoring and evaluation approaches for CFSs. The case studies have so far all been focused on refugee settings and while internally displaced populations (IDPs) share many of the circumstances and challenges of refugees it was decided that CFSs operating in IDP settings warrant a particular investigation in order to assess their relevance and effectiveness in promoting child protection and psychosocial wellbeing. This report thus presents the findings from an IDP focused study on CFS effectiveness in three camps near Goma, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
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Pour la formation du personnel des établissements sanitaires
La République Démocratique du Congo connait une fragilité sociale issue de divers conflits communautaires qui ont déstabilisés le tissu économique du pays sans épargner le secteur éducatif depuis plusieurs années. Les sources de fragilité sont aussi liées à la pauvreté de la population ...et à l’insécurité alimentaire (15,5 millions de personnes en 2019). De plus, le pays fait face à d’autres crises comme les catastrophes naturelles et différentes épidémies y compris le Cholera, la maladie a virus d’Ébola et COVID19.
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Six months since the start of Congo’s latest Ebola outbreak – the second worst in history, with more than 400 people dead – this special report evaluates efforts to prevent the disease from spreading internationally and sparking a regional crisis
Rumors emerge when people feel left out of the discussion, when their questions cannot be answered by authorities or their doubts are dismissed by official sources. But also, rumors present an opportunity – to understand the questions, concerns and anxieties communities may have about this pandemi...c.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Internews has followed its rumour-tracking methodology, including social media listening, to identify those rumors that are posing additional risks to the communities, ensuring content is collected from diverse demographic groups.
Internews produces and distributes rumor bulletins through its Rooted in Trust and its H2H (humanitarian-to-humanitarian network) projects. Rooted in Trust has collected close to 6,000 rumors from seven countries in 12 languages, and collects data across seven major social media platforms and a wide range of feedback collection channels. H2H is a collaboration to support responders at every level by analyzing information gaps and addressing them with evidence-based content in relevant languages, formats, and channels.
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Le Plan de réponse humanitaire (PRH) 2020 a été révisé et publié en mai 2020 afin d’intégrer l’impact de l’épidémie de COVID-19 sur les besoins humanitaires existants et sur les activités des partenaires humanitaires.