The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) holds the sad record for the largest number of internally displaced people (IDPs) in Africa. Globally, only Syria counts more IDPs than DRC. Over the past two months, the resurgence of violence in DR Congo's Ituri province has led to a new wave of forced displacement in this north-eastern region of the country. Unfortunately, the conflict between the Hema and Lendu communities has been present since the early 2000s.

Initially an intense conflict and since 2007 sporadic ones, the conflicts escalated again in December 2017. Since then, ongoing peaks of violence have forced more than a million civilians to flee their sometimes looted and burned villages.

More than 200,000 people have been forced to flee into the hills of Ituri in the last two months. Around 1,200,000 people are currently living in deplorable conditions in sites for internally displaced people or makeshift shelters, lacking food, drinking water and access to health care.

Furthermore, treatable diseases such as malaria, diarrhea and respiratory infections continue to kill thousands of children due to the lack of access to healthcare. According to recent mortality surveys, the under-five mortality rate is above the emergency threshold in several locations. Populations are in distress.

MSF provides free medical care to displaced people in Ituri, runs water and sanitation activities, and distributes mosquito nets and non-food items in 34 sites in the health zones of Nizi, Drodro and Angumu. In the light of the increased conflict, MSF started providing emergency medical care to people wounded by violence. While there are no confirmed COVID-19 cases in Ituri, MSF is working closely with the community to ensure people have information about the disease. MSF has also implemented different measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the health structures we support, (community health sites, health centers and hospitals), such as infection control and prevention measures. The teams have trained health workers in the region about COVID-19 and are strengthening the hospitals of Nizi, Drodro and Angumu with medical equipment, human resources, and preparing the isolation and care structures within these hospitals.