Reporting
Aid drop in Uganda: malnutrition increases in Congolese refugee camps
Fleeing nearly 30 years of violence in the east of the DRC, many Congolese are taking the road of exile and going in particular to neighboring Uganda, which is favorable to welcoming refugees.
Every week, new arrivals from Congo arrive at Nakivale, one of the largest and oldest camps in the country.
But if humanitarian organizations are on the ground to help, budgets are difficult to meet.
Food aid has been reduced, impacting nutrition.
Listen - 01:26
At the health center II of the Nakivale refugee camp, on the walls of the buildings, there are prevention messages against the effects of malnutrition on health.
Here, the camp on March 7, 2024. © Paulina Zidi / RFI
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With our special correspondent in Nakivale,
Paulina Zidi
In the heart of Nakivale, the Juru sector has seen
many new refugees
settle in in recent months.
And like those who have already been established for a long time, for Jean-Didier, Sébastien and Simon, it is the same observation: life is particularly difficult.
“
We don’t have anything to eat
,” said one of them.
“
We are here, but life is so difficult.
We have no food since we have no fields to cultivate
,” continues another.
“
When you lack food, when you lack water, all that, you also lack security in your head
.
»
Jean-Didier is especially worried about his wife, pregnant with her first child who is due to be born in the coming days: in this camp, it is the youngest who are most affected by malnutrition, particularly children under 5 years old. .
Currently, 40% of those living in Nakivale are malnourished.
With dramatic consequences on their development.
A concern shared by Doctor Justin Okello, head of a health center: “
The human brain grows enormously during the first 1,000 days of life.
And everything that goes wrong will have consequences.
The child will have difficulty becoming a studious student, a productive adult who contributes to development.
There will therefore be consequences on the community, on the child and his family
.”
With the
persistence of conflicts
in Sudan and the DRC, humanitarian workers in Nakivale fear having to reduce food aid once again.
Read alsoUganda: several hundred displaced Congolese take refuge in Nakivale camp
WFP finds itself forced to categorize refugees for aid distribution
Faced with this shortage of aid, some major humanitarian actors have even had to make radical decisions and modify their approach to aid.
This is the case of the World Food Program (WFP) of the UN.
In 2023, according to figures from actors on the ground, only 35% of the humanitarian needs for refugees in Uganda have been financed: impossible in these conditions to maintain all food aid for all the people concerned, i.e. 1.6 million in the country.
WFP has therefore changed its approach to prioritize this assistance.
All refugees no longer have access to it, they have been classified into three categories.
The first must now be able to meet their needs on their own: these are generally refugees who have been settled in Uganda for a long time, who have set up businesses or started farming.
The second group continues to receive part of the aid, but it is reduced.
However, all assistance was in principle maintained for the most vulnerable: single women, disabled people, or for new arrivals.
But this is only in principle, since the funds available do not currently allow it: they receive 60% of the amount initially planned, or approximately 6 dollars per month per person.
“We see refugees getting sick every day”
A refugee for more than ten years in Nakivale, Yannick Fariala is now a community relay in the camp and is concerned about food insecurity and its consequences on the communities.
02:17
“We see refugees falling ill from malnutrition every day,” explains Yannick Fariala, community relay.
Paulina Zidi
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