Violence against health workers in the DRC continues

The escalating armed conflict in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is exacerbating the humanitarian and health situation in the region

December 12, 2022 by Viva Salud
Congo health workers
Health workers protest in Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2022. 

Since October 20, 188,000 people have been newly displaced by fighting between the M23 rebel group and the Congolese Army in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Even before the latest spike in displacement, an estimated 5.6 million Congolese were internally displaced. Another 1 million have found refuge in 22 countries in Africa, making this one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises. 

The violence greatly affects health workers, who suffered 127 incidents of violence or obstruction in 2021, including stolen medical equipment, arrests, kidnappings and attacks which in some cases resulted in physical injuries or even death. This is a sharp increase when compared to the 81 reported incidents of 2020. Nearly 90% of the incidents reported occurred in the northeastern and eastern parts of the country, near the border with neighboring Uganda. 

Health care delivery in peril

The incidents are having a severe impact on health care delivery in the DRC. In Ituri province, several health centers had to be evacuated and their staff moved to the province’s capital, leaving thousands of residents without access to health care. In Djugu, an evacuated hospital was taken by rebels and set on fire, resulting in the loss of new medical equipment worth more than a million USD. The rebels were eventually driven out, but the hospital’s capacity remains limited due to the large loss of equipment. In June 2021, another hospital, this time in Boga, was completely destroyed, leaving 80,000 people without access to the care they needed overnight. 

Pregnant women and young children are the biggest victims of limited access to health care in the DRC. The mortality rate of children under the age of five in the DRC is one of the highest in the world, while maternal mortality in the country also remains very high. On top of that, the DRC was hit by another outbreak of measles in 2021. National vaccination programs were hampered by several factors, including an inadequately equipped health service and the inability of vaccination teams to reach some communities due to ongoing insecurity and violence. Young children still do not receive all their childhood vaccinations, mainly in the north and east of the country. There are fears that diseases such as polio and diphtheria will thus reappear, leading to more child deaths.

On strike for better working conditions

Health workers in the DRC are not only victims of violence, but they also work in poor conditions in general. Doctors in public hospitals have been on strike for months. They accuse the government of not fulfilling its promises, such as increase of salaries, easing workloads and guaranteeing proper pensions. The majority of doctors joined the strike, but they still assure a minimum of services.

After months on strike, the doctors of the National Union of Doctors (Syndicat National des Médecins, SYNAMED) and the Free Union of Doctors (Syndicat Libre des Médecins, SYLMED) decided that the strike was not producing enough results. Therefore, they organized peaceful demonstrations on Wednesday, September 21 of this year. Doctors and other medical personnel took to the streets of Kinshasa to demand better working conditions. The protest helped them to express their dissatisfaction and encourage the government to improve working conditions in the public health sector.

As the doctors advanced from the Avenue des Huileries to the Boulevard, the Kinshasa police confronted them. They stopped and halted the demonstrators, despite the fact that the organizers had obtained all the required permits for the demonstration. The doctors, determined to stand firm, resisted the ban and continued their march. In response, the police reacted very violently. Some demonstrators were beaten, kicked, abused and injured. Others were arrested and subsequently released.

Solidarity campaign with health workers on strike

The outrage at the police action is great among the doctors. They want to continue the strike through the “hospitals without doctors” movement, although the strike could have significant implications for the quality of care in public hospitals. In normal times, access to decent health care is already compromised for 90% of the population. It is therefore very important that the demands of the striking doctors be met. 

That is why Etoile du Sud and Si Jeunesse Savait, two Congolese organizations which also engage in global health activism with Viva Salud and the People’s Health Movement, launched an online solidarity campaign called ‘Mosalayamongasanténabiso’ (“the work of health workers is our health” in Lingala) with the trade unions involved in the strike. The goal of the campaign was to raise awareness about the challenges health workers in the DRC are facing and increase public support for the striking health workers. Whether the campaign will be successful in the long run remains to be seen, but the organizations did manage to evoke a response from the minister of public health in the DRC, who claimed on Twitter that he will be working towards a solution. The health workers will keep putting pressure to ensure decent working conditions in the public health sector so that the Congolese right to health can better be guaranteed. 

An earlier version of this article was published on Viva Salud’s website.

People’s Health Dispatch is a fortnightly bulletin published by the People’s Health Movement and Peoples Dispatch. For more articles and to subscribe to People’s Health Dispatch, click here.