The DRC is facing one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters, and children are paying the highest price.
Ongoing conflict is threatening children’s lives, uprooting millions from their homes, and turning children’s schools and play areas into battlegrounds. It’s also leaving them extremely vulnerable to recruitment by armed forces, abductions, and sexual violence.
The country is also suffering the impacts of the climate crisis with more frequent and severe weather causing droughts and flooding that are devastating crops and increasing the risk of disease outbreaks.
Over 26 million people, including 14.5 million children, are facing critical levels of hunger. Click below to learn more.
Marie*, 10 and her younger brother Antho*, 1, live in Kasai with their auntie Riva*. Like many families across DRC, conflict, climate change and epidemics like Covid-19 and cholera have left them food insecure.
They were unable to access nutritious food resulting in Antho* becoming severely malnourished.
Save the Children set up a health centre in Antho’s village, where they trained the community workers to screen and treat Severe Acute Malnutrition.
After assessing Antho, they were able to provide "Plumpy Nut", a high-energy, high-nutrient peanut paste. Maria* helps her younger brother by feeding him and she hopes he will make a full recovery soon.
Save the Children has worked in the DRC since 1994, working with communities to help the most vulnerable children survive and stay safe.
This support includes providing safe drinking water, treating sick and injured children suffering from pneumonia, malaria, diarrhea and other illnesses, distributing food, and providing child protection services.
Our community-led approach in the country has also allowed us to treat cases of malnutrition locally before life-threatening complications develop.
We have also been helping build communities’ resilience to food insecurity by encouraging sustainable farming and supporting farming families who have been uprooted from their homes to restart agricultural income-generating activities in their areas of displacement.
Support our life-saving work in the DRC and around the world
Please donate to our Children's Emergency Fund to help children like Antho*
