STORY: UNICEF strengthens response to growing cholera outbreak amid floods in DRC
SHOOTING DATE: Feb. 9, 2024
DATELINE: Feb. 10, 2024
LENGTH: 00:04:14
LOCATION: Kinshasa
CATEGORY: HEALTH

SHOTLIST:
1. various of flood-affected areas
2. various of treatment wards, patients
3. SOUNDBITE 1 (French): ANTHONY BONHOMMEAU, Emergency specialist, UNICEF
4. various of treatment wards, patients
5. SOUNDBITE 2 (French): ANTHONY BONHOMMEAU, Emergency specialist, UNICEF
6. various of patients
7. SOUNDBITE 3 (French): JEAN LIYOLONGO, Emergency officer, UNICEF
8. SOUNDBITE 4 (Swahili): PENDO, Internally displaced person
9. various of flood-affected areas

STORYLINE:

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is responding to devastating flooding in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with the Congo River rising to levels not seen in more than 60 years and growing cholera outbreak.

Eighteen out of DRC's 26 provinces are affected following exceptionally heavy rainfall over the past couple of months, leaving more than 2 million people in need of assistance, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates.

SOUNDBITE 1 (French): ANTHONY BONHOMMEAU, Emergency specialist, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
"I am here in Sake, which has experienced a significant population displacement in recent weeks and months, including a cholera epidemic that has emerged alongside this population movement."

Flood waters have reportedly destroyed or damaged almost 100,000 households, 1,325 schools, and 267 health facilities.

Crops have spoiled in waterlogged fields, raising the prospect of food shortages in some places.

With 40 percent of cholera cases found in areas that are flooded or at risk of flooding, UNICEF has also ramped up efforts to contain an existing outbreak that threatens to spiral out of control.

SOUNDBITE 2 (French): ANTHONY BONHOMMEAU, Emergency specialist, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
"We mobilized our team and worked with our implementing partner, which is the National Red Cross of North Kivu, to develop an intervention as quickly as possible to provide support and work on the Cholera Treatment Center that we support. We notably reorganized the patient flow, allowing us to adhere to standards and increase the number of beds by about a dozen to cope with the influx of patients."

Some weather forecasters are warning of more rain, increasing the possibility that cholera will travel from areas where it is endemic via the Congo River to the urban center of Kisangani and then to Kinshasa, the capital. In a similar situation in 2017, cholera spread to the entire country, leading to almost 55,000 cases and more than 1,100 deaths.

In 2023, more than 52,400 cholera cases and 462 deaths were recorded in DRC, making it one of the largest outbreaks in the world, according to the World Health Organization.

DRC accounted for 80 percent of all cholera cases in West and Central Africa.

UNICEF is providing drinking water, water treatment kits, and health supplies to affected areas.

The agency is also working with local authorities to ensure the continuation of child protection services, such as reuniting separated children with their families and providing mental health support.

SOUNDBITE 3 (French): JEAN LIYOLONGO, Emergency officer, UNICEF
"The needs remain significant, but UNICEF continues to provide its multi-sectoral response. We also note the presence of WASH actors; there are bladder tanks installed, as well as the construction of showers and latrines because the site where we are located is the Kizimba site which has just been set up. A month ago, there were zero latrines, zero showers. There was no basic infrastructure."

UNICEF-supported cholera management teams are also on the ground, providing a first response when cholera cases are suspected.

This includes distributing cholera prevention kits, decontaminating homes and communal latrines, and setting up hand disinfection stations.

SOUNDBITE 4 (Swahili): PENDO, Internally displaced person
"We used to get water from Mubambiro, dirty water. But now we have clean water."

Teams are also stepping up prevention measures, including awareness and surveillance efforts, and upgrading cholera treatment centers, including in Kinshasa.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Kinshasa.
(XHTV)