Six months into Congo’s war, cholera is killing more than four people every day

• Aid cuts and humanitarian deadlock are fuelling a full-blown public health disaster.
• In Sake and Minova, 500 people are sharing a single water tap.  

Six months since the renewed war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a full-blown public health emergency is accelerating, Oxfam warned today. 

Since January, more than 35,000 suspected cholera cases and at least 852 deaths have been reported – an average of more than four deaths every day and a 62 percent spike from 2024. 

After M23 fighters seized Goma in January civilians were ordered to return to their villages within 72 hours. More than 3.16 million people have since returned back only to find their homes reduced to rubble, and aid system on the verge of collapse.

Water networks, including storage facilities have been obliterated, leaving families to drink from contaminated streams and stagnant lakes. Basic health services have crumbled, with hospitals out of medicine and sanitation systems in ruins. In some of the hardest-hit areas, like Sake and Minova, 500 people are now sharing a single water tap. 

Dr. Manenji Mangundu, Oxfam’s Director in DRC said:

“This is a full-blown public health emergency. Families are returning to ruins—no shelters, no toilets, no clean water. In many areas, latrines have been flooded or stripped for firewood, forcing people to defecate in the open and contaminate the only water available. The air reeks of sewage. Hospitals are out of medicine, and we can’t reach cut-off communities with even the most basic aid.”

In South Kivu’s Uvira region, cholera is surging with 100 new cases being reported each day. Floodwaters from Lake Tanganyika routinely inundate homes and latrines overflow into the lake, even as families are forced to drink lake water. 

The forced closure and destruction of more than 20 displacement sites in Goma alone has left 700,000 people without safe shelter, clean water or basic sanitation In Rusayo, Lushagal, and Bhimba —where Oxfam had been supporting over 100,000 people—entire sites have been razed or abandoned, including more than $700,000 worth of water and sanitation infrastructure, such as pipelines, latrines, and tanks.

Despite a US-brokered ceasefire, insecurity, roadblocks, and ongoing clashes have severed vital supply routes, cutting off communities from lifesaving food, clean water, and medicine. Aid agencies like Oxfam are now being forced to detour through Rwanda, severely hampering relief efforts. Cross-border access through Burundi has been entirely blocked, while illegal taxes and bureaucratic obstruction are further choking humanitarian deliveries. 

Deep aid cuts since the start of 2025 have pushed the humanitarian response to the brink of failure. Only a fraction of the $2.54 billion needed this year as humanitarian aid in DRC has been received to date—forcing agencies like Oxfam to scale back or suspend life-saving operations. Even a UN investigation into possible war crimes has been frozen for lack of funding.

“People are suffering because we cannot reach them,” said Balume Loutre, Oxfam’s Public Health Engineering Team Leader in Eastern DRC. “They’re drinking from contaminated water sources, and we lack the resources to deliver even basic aid. In some villages, 15,000 families need help, but we can only support 500. We’re forced to make impossible choices, leaving thousands behind.” 

The situation is particularly alarming for women and girls. Since the cuts to USAID funding, more than 8,200 people living with HIV have lost access to antiretroviral treatment. Emergency post-rape care kits are vanishing, even as a child is reported raped every half an hour in eastern DRC, according to UNICEF.

Despite the collapse of the aid system, Oxfam and its partners continue to deliver lifesaving assistance – constructing water systems, building latrines and distributing soap and hygiene kits, food and seed. But urgent funding is needed to reach 400,000 people in high-risk cholera zones. 

“We need an immediate injection of funds, and all warring parties to commit to a permanent ceasefire and allow aid to flow freely. After six months of chaos, people need dignity and respite from relentless violence. The world cannot look away,” said Mangundu.