News & Politics
Rising hunger in Congo driving women to prostitution, reports
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) says hunger has doubled in the Democratic Republic of Congo in a year, with 15 million people in need of food aid, pushing children into sex work and mining. Also many farmers are now too scared to tend their fields in northeastern Congo, where some of the worst fighting in […]
By
Tobi Idowu
7 years ago
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) says hunger has doubled in the Democratic Republic of Congo in a year, with 15 million people in need of food aid, pushing children into sex work and mining.
Also many farmers are now too scared to tend their fields in northeastern Congo, where some of the worst fighting in years has forced 750,000 people to flee their homes so far in 2018.
“Women and girls are going into prostitution and selling their bodies for food or selling their bodies for money to buy food,” Kimberly Bennett, an NRC spokeswoman informed the media.
About 8 million children in the Congo are malnourished, according to the United Nations children’s fund, UNICEF, causing growth stunting, mental retardation and death.
“Farmers are so hungry (that) they’ve actually taken to eating the seeds we’re distributing (instead of planting them),” said Bennett.
This has caused a humanitarian crisis in the country which also has been worst hit by the Ebola virus.
“Just over a quarter of the 1.7 billion dollars sought in a humanitarian appeal for Congo this year has been delivered,” said Bennett.
