On Wednesday, the United States announced a plan to provide nearly $414 million in humanitarian aid to the Democratic Republic of Congo, where over 25 million people, representing almost a quarter of the population, are in need of assistance.
Jeffrey Prescott, the U.S. Ambassador to the UN Agencies for Food and Agriculture, indicated that a significant portion of this aid would be allocated to UN agencies and relief organizations focused on delivering essential services such as food, healthcare, nutrition, shelter, and water, sanitation, and hygiene. He also mentioned that the aid package includes agricultural products sourced directly from American farmers.
Prescott, alongside U.S. Ambassador to the DRC Lucy Tamlyn, will formally announce this aid package in Kinshasa on Wednesday. He noted that this new contribution brings the total U.S. funding for the DRC since October to $838 million. The U.N. has reported that ongoing conflicts, including the battle between Congo’s army and M23 insurgents since 2022, have displaced over 1.7 million people, raising the total number of displaced individuals in the DRC to a record 7.2 million.
This year, the U.N. has appealed for $2.6 billion in aid for the DRC, but only a third of that target has been met. Last month, the World Health Organization warned that over a million children in Congo are at severe risk of malnutrition. Prescott expressed hope that the U.S. contribution would motivate other nations to step up their support. Additionally, the U.S. plans to allocate $10 million for health initiatives and supply 50,000 mpox vaccines.
Mpox, a viral infection spread through close contact, typically presents with mild symptoms but can sometimes be fatal, causing flu-like symptoms and pus-filled sores on the skin. The ongoing mpox outbreak in Congo has resulted in around 27,000 cases and more than 1,100 deaths, primarily affecting children, since the beginning of 2023.