True to your calling in Christ, your love saves lives and supports the health of our neighbors in hard-to-reach communities around the world.
On World Health Day, we are grateful to recognize the immense impact you’ve had in the Democratic Republic of Congo for more than 25 years.
Since 2013 alone:
- 44.7 million visits have been made to health facilities you support
- 286 health centers have been built or renovated
- More than 5 million births have been assisted by skilled health workers in supported facilities.
These numbers reflect measurable improvements in access to and quality of health care available in these communities.
They also represent mothers who survived childbirth, children treated for preventable illness, and families who can now rely on care closer to home.
Your compassion is truly transformational!
Current health focus: The mpox virus
Much of your impact in the Congo has focused on the sustainable strengthening of the systems, facilities and people who provide basic health care to our neighbors.
But, building on our long history, your generosity also makes it possible for Lutheran World Relief to reach people in times of crisis. Times like today.
In January 2025, the M23 militia captured the city of Goma in the volatile eastern region. Thousands of innocent families were already living in crowded displacement camps, where your love was providing essentials for their survival. This invasion forced them to flee for their lives again.
The violence also made the mpox virus (formerly called monkeypox), which had been sweeping through the region for several months, more difficult to contain.
Those affected most by this strain of mpox are young children — the most vulnerable among us.
Even in constantly changing and dangerous circumstances, your compassion has protected and cared for our neighbors who are most at risk.
Your impact against mpox
Working with multiple partners on the ground across various sites, your impact included:
- Training 500+ health workers in monitoring, contact tracing, treatment and prevention of mpox infection
- Vaccinating 56% of people in the affected province against mpox
- Establishing a 40-bed Mpox Treatment Center with isolation tents (543 confirmed cases treated onsite, 1,526 meals provided to patients in isolation, 1,488 LWR Mission Quilts and Personal Care Kits distributed)
- Examined and treated 10,783 confirmed and suspected cases at additional facilities.
And you didn’t stop there. Your love also reached vulnerable communities in Sierra Leone and Liberia with radio broadcasts, billboards and more to prevent the spread of mpox.
On World Health Day, thank you for your care and compassion — and your acts of generosity that protect all of us.