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01/07/2006:

"Severe Medical Crisis Reported in Congo"

DAKAR, Senegal, Jan. 6 (AP) - War-ravaged Congo is suffering the world's deadliest medical crisis, with 38,000 people dying each month, mostly from easily treatable conditions like diarrhea and respiratory infections, said a study published Friday in Britain's leading medical journal.

Nearly four million people died between 1998 and 2004 alone, an indirect result of years of fighting that has brought on a collapse of public health services, the study in the journal, Lancet, concluded.

Major fighting ended in Congo in 2002, but the situation remains dire because of continued insecurity, poor access to health care and inadequate international aid. The problems are particularly acute in eastern Congo.

The study was based on a survey of 19,500 households across Congo, a country of 60 million, between April and July 2004. Health Ministry workers and staff members of an aid group, the International Rescue Committee, conducted the interviews.

The results showed that Congo's monthly mortality rate was 40 percent higher than the average for sub-Saharan Africa. Mortality rates were highest in Congo's eastern provinces, where death rates were 93 percent higher than the average for sub-Saharan Africa.

Congo's government dismissed the report. "I consider that a big lie," said Henri Mova Sakanyi, the minister of information. "These figures are very exaggerated. All over the world, people die of disease. It's not just Congo."
nytimes.com