Ebola outbreak is worsening food insecurity in eastern Congo, UN agency warns
The World Food Program warns that a rapidly spreading Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo is exacerbating an existing food security crisis. Conflict and instability in the region have hindered aid efforts, leaving millions in urgent need of food assistance.
Why it matters
The intersection of disease outbreaks and regional conflict creates a humanitarian emergency that threatens the stability of the entire region.
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BUNIA, Congo (AP) — The fastest growing Ebola outbreak ever recorded is leaving thousands more people hungry in eastern Congo, a region engulfed in conflicts and a fight over precious minerals, the head of the U.N. food agency warned on Wednesday.
The World Food Program’s acting executive director, Carl Skau, told The Associated Press during a visit to the hard-hit Ituri province that the outbreak is a “crisis on top of a crisis” that has compounded a catastrophic situation with over 5 million Congolese already experiencing emergency-level food insecurity.
The long-running conflict in eastern Congo has driven nearly 10 million people into crisis or emergency levels of hunger, with Ituri — the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak — among the most affected with 1.9 million in need of food, according to the WFP.
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