12 Nov. (EUROA PRESS) –
At least 16 children under the age of five have died in the last three months in the Jaiba and Lodha camps for internally displaced persons, in the Congolese province of Ituri, in the north-east of the country, due to poor living conditions and a lack of health care, as reported by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
The OCHA office in Ituri has explained that up to six of the minors died during the month of October due to pneumonia and angina.
Most of the shelters for the displaced were destroyed during the attacks by the armed groups in April 2022, so they were at the mercy of inclement weather and consequently respiratory diseases.
OCHA has alerted that shelter is needed for at least 1,570 families who are in very precarious conditions, without access to any medical attention. Some resort to traditional medicine at the risk of complications that even lead to death.
They also do not receive food. In Jaiba, for example, they have not received humanitarian assistance since April 2021, which is why the cases of malnutrition have multiplied, especially among children.
