Health in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
[2] When looking at the right to health with respect to children, the Democratic Republic of the Congo achieves 96.6% of what is expected based on its current income.
[citation needed] In 2018, the CIA estimated the average life expectancy in the DR Congo to be 60.3 years: 59 for the male population and 61.6 for females (est.
[7] Given that the majority of the population lives in high transmission zones, it has been estimated that the DRC accounts for 11 percent of all cases of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa.
[7] The National Malaria Control Strategic Plan 2016–2020 (NSP) introduced the stratification of provinces based on parasite prevalence as measured by the 2013 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS).
Life expectancy in the DR Congo dropped 9% in the 1990s as a result of HIV/AIDS.According to UNAIDS, several factors fuel the spread of HIV in the DR Congo, including the movement of large numbers of refugees and soldiers, scarcity and high cost of safe blood transfusions in rural areas, a lack of counseling, few HIV testing sites, high levels of untreated sexually transmitted infections among sex workers and their clients, and low availability of condoms outside Kinshasa and one or two provincial capitals.
[10] The highest annual attack rates occurred in 2011 in the Eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo that border the Great Lakes.
The high annual attack rates occurred in the Eastern provinces because there is an environmental reservoir for V. cholerae in the lakes of the rift valley.
Additionally, hemorrhagic fever, polio, cholera, and typhoid, while tuberculosis is an increasingly serious health concern in the DR Congo.
In Democratic Republic of the Congo the number of midwives per 1,000 live births is 2 and the lifetime risk of death for pregnant women 1 in 24.
[17] Undernutrition has significant long term impact on the cognitive development of children, particularly those under 5 years old and of women in childbearing age previously malnourished.
