At the Humanitarian Conference on the Democratic Republic of Congo on 13 April 2018, international donors announced US$528 million to support the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian aid to millions of people in DRC.

In response to the dramatic deterioration of the humanitarian situation in DRC in 2017, humanitarian actors have launched an appeal for US$ 1.68 billion for 2018, the largest ever funding appeal for the country; with the largest share for the Food Security Sector - US$ 580 million.

The humanitarian situation has drastically worsened over the last year. A surge of violence forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee. The country is already beset with one of the world’s largest and most complex humanitarian emergencies. Food insecurity and malnutrition have deteriorated. A 30 per cent increase from 2017 year means that now 7.7 million people are left food insecure and over 2 million children at risk of severe acute malnutrition. Girls and women have suffered horrific sexual and gender-based violence. 4.3 million of people are struggling to survive in displacement. Overall, 13.1 million people urgently require humanitarian assistance.

The funding is needed to urgently assist some 10.5 million Congolese people in 2018. Geographical expansion of the humanitarian needs and worsening situations in existing crisis hotspots all require a step change of the response of the international community to address life-threatening humanitarian and protection needs.