What are the main humanitarian challenges in Congo?
Some 25.4 million people in the DRC need humanitarian support, making it the largest humanitarian crisis globally. Those in need include the DRC’s 6.9 million internally displaced people, 5.6 million of whom were displaced from the country’s eastern region. Efforts to solve this chronic displacement crisis are hindered by poor governance and infrastructure, and ongoing insecurity in conflict-affected areas.
A lack of clean water and sanitation services in overcrowded camps for internally displaced persons contributes to the spread of disease at a time when the DRC’s health system is at risk of collapse. The potential El Niño-induced flooding forecasted in 2024 would exacerbate the spread of disease and increase displacement. Such climate shocks would also hinder agriculture production, affecting the DRC’s food-insecure populations—one of the largest in the world.
Sexual violence against women and girls is also a significant problem in Congo. Early marriage and pregnancy force girls to drop out of school, reducing their livelihood opportunities and increasing their exposure to risk and abuse.
Despite immense needs in the country, the DRC’s 2023 humanitarian response plan received just 40% of its necessary funding, causing shortfalls in critical service provision and aid delivery. Constraints on humanitarian access are high as bureaucratic impediments have grown while protests against the U.N.’s peacekeeping mission in the country indicate growing local suspicion of international actors, including humanitarians.
