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STORY: UNICEF / DRC FLOODS CHOLERA
TRT: 04:14
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT UNICEF ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: FRENCH / SWAHILI / NATS
DATELINE: PLEASE SEE SHOTLIST FOR DETAILS
03 JANUARY 2024, KINSHASA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
1. Various shots, pompage district following torrential rains
11 JANUARY 2024, CHOLERA TREATMENT UNIT, SAKE, NORTH KIVU PROVINCE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
2. Various shots, treatment wards, patients
19 JANUARY 2024, CHOLERA TREATMENT UNIT, SAKE, NORTH KIVU PROVINCE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
3. SOUNDBITE (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."
11 JANUARY 2024, CHOLERA TREATMENT UNIT, SAKE, NORTH KIVU PROVINCE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
4. Various shots, doctor with patients, rehydration solution, patient lying on bed
19 JANUARY 2024, CHOLERA TREATMENT UNIT, SAKE, NORTH KIVU PROVINCE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
5. SOUNDBITE (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.”
11 JANUARY 2024, CHOLERA TREATMENT UNIT, SAKE, NORTH KIVU PROVINCE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
6. Various shots, doctor with patients
11 JANUARY 2024, KIZIMBA IDP SITE, SAKE, NORTH KIVU PROVINCE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
7. SOUNDBITE (French) Jean Liyolongo, Emergency Officer, United Nations Children's Fund (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.”
8. Zoom in, Pendo drawing water
9. SOUNDBITE (Swahili): Pendo, internally displaced person:
"We used to get water from Mubambiro, dirty water. But now we have clean water."
10. Aerial shot, water trucking
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and partners are 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 – nearly 60 per cent children – in need of assistance, according to OCHA estimates.
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.
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 centre 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.
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.
Teams are also stepping up prevention measures, including awareness and surveillance efforts, and upgrading cholera treatment centres, including in Kinshasa.
