DR Congo VII
Life on the Congo river, January 2018
In remote areas down the river from Kisangani, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Tshopo province, the incidence of maternal and infant mortality is extremely high as preventable diseases are not treated.
Now a programme training health workers aims to make vital medical care more accessible. Kate travelled out to DR Congo in January 2018 to document the effect that the programme is having on the local population of Kisangani.
A man paddles a pirogue that is full of people who are needing to go to a health centre for treatments near Isangi, Tshopo Democratic Republic of Congo Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017. In this region of the DR Congo thousands of communities remain without health centres and people often have to travel by pirogue to go for basic treatments and to deliver their babies. Infant mortality remains high and one in three babies will not make their fifth birthday.
Itunga washes her new born grand daughter, Itsuma, washed on by her mother Abataki at a health centre near to Isangi in the Democratic Republic of Congo Friday, Nov. 24, 2017. This is one of several heath centres whose staff have recently undertaken a five day Water and Sanitation training which means the centre is now clean and has running water. Abataki says the reason that she has come to the centre to deliver is because it is now clean. The Maternal and Child Survival Program, which is paid for by USAID and implemented in Kisangani by JSI is providing essential clinical training and drugs to health workers in this health zone. ( Photo/KATE HOLT)- A young girl lies on a bed, while being treated for Malaria, at a health clinic in the Tshopo Democratic Republic of Congo Friday, Nov. 24, 2017. In this region of the DR Congo thousands of communities remain without health centres and people often have to travel by pirogue to go for basic treatments and to deliver their babies. Infant mortality remains high and one in three babies will not make their fifth birthday.
- Bati Bobubela who is the community health site worker shows women how to prevent their children getting ill in the community health site in Yatutu village near Isangi in the Democratic Republic of Congo Thursday, Nov. 23, 2017. The nearest health centre to Yatutu is an eight hour pirogue journey away and many young children under the age of five were dying from easily treatable illnesses until the community health site was established. The Maternal and Child Survival Program, which is paid for by USAID and implemented in Kisangani by JSI is providing essential clinical training and drugs to health workers in this health zone. ( Photo/KATE HOLT)
- Basomboli Bolese, who is married and had ten children, four of whom have died, poses for a photograph with her baby Bolibnaba and her three other children who don’t go to school in their home in the village of Yatutu Isangi, Democratic Republic of Congo Thursday, Nov. 23, 2017. Basombolis four children died of illnesses like diarrhea and Malaria because there was no health clinic in their village. There is now a health site run by two community members where children under the age of five can get basic medicines. The Maternal and Child Survival Program, which is paid for by USAID and implemented in Kisangani by JSI is providing essential clinical training and drugs to health workers in this health zone. ( Photo/KATE HOLT)
- A young girl sits in a pirogue at the main ferry port in Isangi, Tshopo Democratic Republic of Congo Thursday, Nov. 23, 2017. In this region of the DR Congo thousands of communities remain without health centres and people often have to travel by pirogue to go for basic treatments and to deliver their babies. Infant mortality remains high and one in three babies will not make their fifth birthday. The Maternal and Child Survival Program, which is paid for by USAID and implemented in Kisangani by JSI is providing essential clinical training and drugs to health workers in this health zone. ( Photo/KATE HOLT)
- Saili Diadone who has been trained as a Community healthcare site manager and is also the local chief, consults with a mother and baby who has a cough at the new health site that has been established in Kabolo Yusuku Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017. Sail has been trained to give basic medicines and treatments to under five children who are suffering from easily treatable conditions like pneumonia and diorreah. The Maternal and Child Survival Program, which is paid for by USAID and implemented in Kisangani by JSI is providing essential clinical training and drugs to health workers in this health zone. ( Photo/KATE HOLT)
- Bossello Menama Patience, a midwife who trained under the nuns who ran this mission hospital in Yusuku and who has done further training under the Maternal and Child Health Programme (MCSP) poses for a photograph next to the bed that is available for women to give birth on in a neglected mission hospital in Yusuku Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017. The Maternal and Child Survival Program, which is paid for by USAID and implemented in Kisangani by JSI is providing essential clinical training and drugs to health workers in this health zone that faces huge challenges due to lack of investment.
- A woman and her baby, who is one of twins, who are both suffering from Malaria, lie in a neglected mission hospital in Yusuku Kisangani, Democratic Republic of Congo Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2017. The hospital was supported by British nuns until 2008 but since then has fallen into disrepair and now hardly offers any services to patients. The Maternal and Child Survival Program, which is paid for by USAID and implemented in Kisangani by JSI is providing essential clinical training and drugs to health workers in this health zone. ( Photo/KATE HOLT)
