We need to talk about the Congo.

Six million have died and more than six million people are now internally displaced within the Democratic Republic of Congo due to escalating violence. The UN even declared it one of the world's biggest displacement and humanitarian crises.

With displacement, comes heightened risk for the dignity, safety, and rights of millions of women and girls across the country. That’s why UNFPA is committed to our work on the ground in the Congo and to sharing stories for women and girls impacted by conflict — even while the world looks away.

Like the story of Anny, a rape survivor who found support from our mobile clinic in the Bulengo displacement camp. Anny’s story is all too common with a 91% increase in reports of violence against women in the Congo’s embattled North Kivu province.

With a soaring rates of sexual assault and coercion against women and girls, there’s not enough access to critical response and recovery services — like mental health counseling, treatment for sexually transmitted infections such as HIV, and legal aid.

That’s why UNFPA has set up a mobile clinic in Bulengo to meet rocketing demand for sexual and reproductive health support. Since June 2023, more than 3,000 displaced people have used the clinic, including 200 for sexually transmitted diseases and 30 survivors of violence.

But estimates show more than 1 million women are at risk of violence, particularly sexual violence, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Will you make a humanitarian gift to deliver lifesaving care to displaced women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and around the world? Women and girls are urgently counting on you while the world looks away from this crisis.

Thank you for being there.

— USA for UNFPA