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\u201cThe crisis is worsening as people flee to areas where humanitarian aid cannot reach due to insecurity,\u201d UN refugee agency (UNHCR) spokesperson Eujin Byun told reporters in Geneva.<\/p>\n
The development comes a day after the top UN aid official in the country Bruno Lemarquis\u00a0warned that a shortage of humanitarian routes was threatening the aid operation in the region.<\/p>\n
The rebels, who seized North Kivu province\u2019s capital Goma late last month, are advancing towards Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu, following a short-lived lull in fighting.<\/p>\n
Ms. Byun said that in South Kivu, more than half of the aid groups providing critical support to survivors of sexual violence \u201creport being unable to reach those in need due to insecurity and continuous displacement\u201d.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, in North Kivu, \u201cthe destruction of health facilities, including mortuaries, and overcrowded hospitals increase the risk of spreading infectious diseases, including cholera, malaria, and measles,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The UNHCR spokesperson also highlighted the fact that \u201cheavy artillery shelling and looting\u201d have destroyed 70,000 emergency shelters around Goma<\/strong> and Minova in North and South Kivu provinces, leaving some 350,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) \u201conce again without a roof over their heads\u201d.<\/p>\n While some 100,000 displaced people have attempted to return to their home areas \u2013 where they are met with damage to their homes and a lack of essential services \u2013 many remain stranded, Ms. Byun said.<\/p>\n Unexploded ordnance left over from the fighting is another obstacle to their safe return.<\/p>\n Ms. Byun warned of the possibility that those people \u201cwill be displaced once again\u201d.<\/p>\n The UNHCR spokesperson stressed that most of the 28 IDP sites around Goma are now destroyed<\/strong>. The agency\u2019s concern in terms of aid access is that the road from Goma to Bukavu has been cut off, she said.<\/p>\n Ms. Byun also recalled that the airport in Goma is \u201cstill not functioning for humanitarian aid\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cSince violence has spread to South Kivu, this supply line is our biggest concern,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n With the rebels pushing towards Bukavu, the UN\u2019s Mr. Lemarquis expressed worry on Thursday about the fate of South Kivu\u2019s main airport some 20 miles from the province\u2019s capital, which until recently was the \u201cmain lifeline\u201d for bringing in humanitarian personnel.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the spokesperson for the UN World Health Organization (WHO), Christian Lindmeier, highlighted the \u201cheavy\u201d impact of the hostilities on the mpox response, \u201cparticularly in Goma and the adjacent area\u201d as the fighting spread southwards.<\/p>\n He stressed that the DRC is \u201cthe worst-affected country for mpox\u201d, with Kivu being the epicentre of the highly infectious clade 1b outbreak.<\/p>\n Due to the rapid spread of the clade 1b strain, in August last year WHO moved to declare mpox once again a \u201cpublic health emergency of international concern\u201d, for the second time after a global outbreak of the virus made headlines in 2022. \u00a0<\/p>\n Earlier this month, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that before the latest violence in eastern DRC, mpox cases had been stabilizing. But the recent fighting has forced patients to flee treatment centres, increasing transmission risks.<\/p>\nDeadly remnants<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Mpox spread<\/strong><\/h2>\n