Conflict In DRC Has “Multiplied” Risk Of Disease Spread, WHO Says

Reuters (2/7, Le Poidevin) reported, “Conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has ‘multiplied’ the risk of the spread of diseases, including cholera, malaria, tuberculosis and the deadly mpox virus, the World Health Organization warned on Friday.” Fighting between Congolese armed forces and Rwandan-backed M23 rebels “has exacerbated an already ‘dire situation’ for millions of people, Dr. Boureima Hama Sambo, WHO representative for the DRC, told reporters in Geneva via video link from the capital Kinshasa.” The WHO recorded “600 suspected cholera cases and 14 deaths in the last month in North Kivu province, where disrupted water supplies have heightened the risk of the spread of the disease.” Additionally, the fighting has “affected the WHO’s vaccine rollout for the mpox virus in eastern DRC.”