The number of children suffering from severe malnutrition in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is rising dramatically as a result of increased conflict. In one hard-hit area, World Vision estimates the number of children under the age of five suffering from malnutrition has increased tenfold.

Before the conflict, nutrition experts were admitting one or two malnourished children per day to the World Vision nutrition centre in Rwanguba, east of Rutshuru. Since fighting devastated rebel-held territory near Rutshuru, between eight and ten children have been arriving every day.

"The cause of malnutrition used to be poverty," said Suzanne Kahamba, a local nurse working at the centre. "But now so many people are displaced, they don’t have land to grow crops. The conflict has intensified the effects of poverty ten times over and the situation has become dire."

This week, World Vision’s emergency team was able to deliver therapeutic food for children at the centre, after fighting in the area cut off aid deliveries for nearly three weeks. Most of the children coming for assistance have been displaced from their homes, some multiple times.

The Rwanguba centre is one of four treatment centres across North Kivu Province that focus on fighting disease while also helping children to slowly resume normal eating patterns. The ready-to-use therapeutic food for children, known as Plumpy Nut, allows families to feed their children at home, rather than have them live at nutrition centres for as long as a month.

With the fresh delivery of Plumpy Nut and food, the centre is able to treat 40 children for two weeks. World Vision will also be providing more than 100 tonnes of food to communities over six months, including beans and maize to almost 4,500 people.

Apart from providing therapeutic treatment, World Vision also trains local health workers and parents on prevention of malnutrition and disease. With support from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, families are also receiving tools and seeds to help them grow nutritious crops.

"North Kivu Province used to supply a large proportion of the country’s food," said Constance Smith, World Vision’s health and nutrition manager in the DRC. "Now people here are foraging for any food they can find. When there is a severe lack of food as there is now, it is always children who suffer the most."

To help affected communities develop secure sources of food, World Vision is also providing egg-laying hens and fruit trees to families in Goma, and plans to distribute seeds and tools to 600 families living in the Shasha displacement camp so they can plant their own crops.

Meanwhile, there are fears that the number of malnourished children will continue to rise if all warring factions and the international community do not commit to finding a peaceful solution to the crisis.

World Vision has re-entered eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to begin assessing and serving the relief needs of tens of thousands of people displaced by the most recent outbreak of fighting in the area. At the same time, World Vision continues to call on regional and global leaders to take actions that will protect civilians and address the root causes of the crisis.

The current fighting is affecting more than 250,000 people. Up to 50,000 people have been displaced in the past week, adding to the 1.4 million who were already displaced by the decade-long conflict.

World Vision plans to begin distributions today of family relief kits—including items like blankets, shelter materials, children's clothing and soap—to more than 10,000 families. World Vision plans to reach as many as 25,000 families as soon as security conditions allow, as well as address health, sanitation and protection needs with operations in Shasha, Minova, Rutshuru and Goma.

"World Vision is assessing suitable temporary settlement sites for people in urgent need of food and non-food items, shelter, water and sanitation," said World Vision Australia spokesperson Michelle Rice from Goma. "However, the challenge of security and access continues to make it difficult to determine the numbers and whereabouts of affected people," Rice continued.

World Vision's Africa Regional Office is dispatching additional relief and security personnel to assist the team in Goma. World Vision has family relief kits of non-food items for 10,500 families en-route to Goma.

The relief situation is complicated, with tens of thousands of people moving between various camps and their homes. Keeping track of so many people - who were already living in temporary shelter before the outbreak of fighting - is proving difficult.

"If the security situation remains stable, we expect to expand distributions this week," said Rice. "The current ceasefire must be held by all sides if we are to respond to the humanitarian crisis here. Without some semblance of stability, relief efforts are extremely difficult."

Prior to suspension of operations in eastern DRC, World Vision was working with relief and recovery-focused programs covering protection (including child protection), water and sanitation, nutrition and supplementary feeding, food security, agriculture, HIV and AIDS, and school rehabilitation.

World Vision started working in eastern DRC in 1993. Its 91 staff have experience in managing an advocacy, protection and a rights-based approach to relief and development projects and programmes.

As African leaders meet in Nairobi for an emergency summit, World Vision is calling for the following actions to be taken:

• That the summit attendees in Nairobi - in particular the governments of DRC and Rwanda - begin genuine negotiations toward a lasting solution of the crisis, including addressing the historical root causes that have perpetuated the conflict.
• That DRC's neighbouring governments, in particular Rwanda and Zambia, keep their borders open to refugees fleeing the current fighting.
• That the international community recommit to financing a humanitarian response in eastern DRC commensurate with the needs, while strengthening weakened aid infrastructure and meeting the needs of newly displaced people.
• That all parties concerned immediately cease all hostilities and establish a humanitarian corridor to enable access by aid workers to those in need across North Kivu province.
• That the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo (MONUC) prioritise the protection of civilians - particularly women and children, who make up more than half of the 1.2 million displaced people - and create a secure environment for aid workers to resume operations.

Thousands of internally displaced people have fled the Kibumba region of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) this week where fighting is ongoing. The displaced include sick people, elderly women and young children.

"Some of the people we spoke with said they were very hungry, had not eaten any food and did not know where they were going," said Michael Arunga, World Vision's Africa Emergency Communications Adviser. "Most said they had lost all their property, leaving it behind when fleeing from the fighting."

Many of the people walking along the road lived in a camp for internally displaced people in Kibumba, 30 kilometres from Goma.

Arunga was part of a World Vision team to visit the Kibumba camp on 27 September. "Sporadic gunfire could be heard very close to the camp, an indication that fighting is ongoing. Heavily armed men stood guard along the way. A military vehicle filled to capacity with armed men sped past toward Goma with a wounded soldier on board," he explained.

The fighting began when rebels captured a major army camp after heavy fighting with government forces. Some 200,000 people have been displaced in Eastern DRC in the last eight weeks, adding to the estimated 1.1 million people displaced in total. A peace deal signed in January between the government and rebel groups has failed to halt violence in the country.

World Vision staff in Goma evacuated across the border into Rwanda on Wednesday amidst rapidly deteriorating security conditions in the city.

Arunga reported from the calm but crowded Rwandan border that eight international World Vision staff members have arrived there safely from Goma and World Vision Congolese staff have returned to their families in Goma.

Another 18 World Vision staff members stationed in Rutshuru — a town about 70 kilometres north of Goma that was overrun by rebels on Tuesday — are taking shelter in the local compound of the United Nations peacekeeping force after evacuation plans failed.

WV Africa Vice-President Wilfred Mlay said: "We remain very concerned about the humanitarian crisis faced by people in Goma and Rutshuru, and we call on the international community to do all it can to ensure their safety, along with an immediate cease fire that will allow full access to them by humanitarian agencies including World Vision."

World Vision will set up an operational base inside Rwanda and will continue to monitor the crisis and support those in need of help, while taking into consideration the safety of our staff.

World Vision works in several temporary camps in eastern DRC, supporting people who have fled their homes during fighting. The organisation provides emergency relief to displaced people including safe water, livestock, nutritious food for children under five and safe places for children to play and recover from trauma.