People and medical facilities caught in crossfire as violence escalates in North Kivu, DRC

With the road between North Kivu’s capital, Goma, and the town of Shasha, 27 kilometres to the west, currently impassable due to the fighting, people are being referred from health centres in the southern part of North Kivu to Minova general hospital and other health facilities in South Kivu. This has overwhelmed these facilities with patients, including rising numbers of sexual violence patients.   
 
“Today, health facilities in Minova are overwhelmed and are facing shortages of essential medicines to treat common conditions such as malaria, diarrhoeal diseases, malnutrition and respiratory infections,” says Rabia Ben Alí, MSF emergency coordinator in South Kivu. “Over the past four weeks, we have seen the number of weekly cases of sexual violence treated at the hospital in Minova doubling.”

Caught in the crossfire

As fighting intensifies and approaches the cities of Mweso and Minova, the safety of civilians, medical staff and patients is in increasing jeopardy.  
 
In Mweso city centre, several houses have been hit by explosives, killing civilians. In the week of 22 January alone, an estimated 20 civilians were killed, including one child, and a further 41 were injured. In the last week of January, bullets from crossfire hit the MSF base and Mweso hospital, injuring one caregiver, while on 2 February, the area between Mweso hospital and the MSF base was hit by an explosive.
 
Concerned for the safety of our teams, we have decided to temporarily relocate some staff from Mweso and Minova.  
 
“We continue to provide support, mostly remote, to Mweso hospital, as well as to nine health centres in the area,” says Tahiroglu. “MSF staff will return as soon as the security situation allows. However, we cannot provide medical care under these conditions, where healthcare facilities are not protected and medical staff are caught in the crossfire.”