Ebola threatens childhood education in DR Congo

Switch TV

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is disrupting children’s education, with thousands of schools lacking adequate hygiene facilities and safety measures. In heavily affected Ituri province, fear of infection, years of conflict and displacement are keeping some children out of the classroom.  Humanitarian agencies, including the Norwegian Refugee Council and UNICEF, are supporting affected children and families as health authorities work to contain the outbreak. With thousands of confirmed cases and deaths reported in the provided figures, the crisis highlights the urgent need for safer schools, reliable health services and support for vulnerable children. How can communities protect children’s health while ensuring they continue to learn?  #DRC #EbolaOutbreak #Ebola #EducationCrisis #UNICEF #HumanitarianCrisis #ChildrensRights #AfricaNews

Transcript

00:24Ebola outbreak is a crisis within a crisis.

00:28The education of some of the children has been disrupted already for several months in some of the regions, either

00:36because of the conflict or because of the displacements.

00:40So right now in the areas affected by the Ebola outbreak, we have approximately 5,700 schools in which we

00:49don't have enough measures put in place to ensure that the schools are being a safe place for the children.

01:11NRC in the different schools has a program called Better Learning Program, which is here to support the children with

01:19some anxiety and stress relief activities,

01:23to make sure that our colleagues are hearing the children's concerns and they can respond to them to make sure

01:31that they feel safe enough to come to school and to continue with their education.

01:45Our healthcare system was already fragile to begin with, so the idea is now to strengthen the entire system by

01:53establishing sustainable mechanisms as part of our efforts to achieve universal health coverage.

02:00The education system has a change.

Category

Transcript

Recommended