Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)

Photo of a community worker helping document the weight and growth of children at the Marechal Health Center in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. Photo: Dominic Chavez/World Bank

A community worker helps document the weight and growth of children in Democratic Republic of Congo. Photo: Dominic Chavez/World Bank

République Démocratique du Congo

Throughout the five-year project period RRHO will support and complement HRSA’s Resilient and Responsive Health Systems (RRHS) initiative implemented by ICAP at Columbia University in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). In so doing, both projects will jointly strengthen the ability of the impact partners to become self-learning organizations that are also interdependent and can promote and capacitate South-South engagement with the goal of contributing to PEPFAR’s human resources for health (HRH) strategy.

National Policies

Visit the Resource Library to access and download national policies & guidelines for the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Country Indicators

DRC Country Profile (IHME - Global Burden of Disease, 2018)

Population (Global Health Observatory, 2016): 78,736,000
Life expectancy at birth M/F (years) (Global Health Observatory, 2016): 59/62

HIV in DRC

Continuous support from the Joint United Nations Team on AIDS (Joint Team) enabled the Democratic Republic of Congo to improve access to prevention and treatment services for the general population. More than 136,000 adults and children were on ART in 2016 and elimination of mother-to-child transmission (eMTCT) coverage was increased up to 70%. In addition, stigma and discrimination as well as sexual and gender-related violence were also addressed to provide a supportive environment for people living with HIV and key populations (UNAIDS).

Number of people living with HIV (UNAIDS 2017): 390,000 [310,000 - 470,000]
Adults aged 15 to 49 prevalence rate (UNAIDS 2017): 0.7% [0.5% - 0.9%]
Adults aged 15 and over living with HIV (UNAIDS 2017): 340,000 [270,000 - 410,000]
Women aged 15 and over living with HIV (UNAIDS 2017): 250,000 [190,000 - 300,000]
Children aged 0 to 14 living with HIV (UNAIDS 2017): 51,000 [35,000 - 63,000]
Deaths due to AIDS (UNAIDS 2017): 17,000 [9,600 - 25,000]
Orphans due to AIDS aged 0 to 17 (UNAIDS 2017): 320,000 [260,000 - 370,000]

WHO Building Blocks in DRC

This WHO framework describes health systems in terms of six core components or “building blocks” including service delivery, health workforce, health information systems, access to essential medicines, financing, and leadership & governance [WHO, 2010]. Click on each tab to explore these health system indicators.

Service Delivery

Medical Products, Infrastructure & Equipment

Total density per 100,000 population: District/rural hospitals 0.43 (2013) (Source: WHO, 2015)
Total density per 100,000 population: Hospitals 0.45 (2013) (Source: WHO, 2015)
Total density per 100,000 population: Provincial Hospitals 0.02 (2013) (Source: WHO, 2015)

Health Workforce

Physician density: 9/1,000 population

Health workforce (Source: WHO, 2015)

	2004	2012
Dentistry personnel density (per 1,000 population)	0.0030
Health management & support workers density (per 1,000 population)	0.2760
Nursing and midwifery personnel density (per 1,000 population)	0.5290
Pharmaceutical personnel density (per 1,000 population)	0.0220	0.0040
Physicians density (per 1,000 population)	0.1070

Health Information Systems

Number of sentinel sites for influenza and severe acute respiratory infection surveillance: 11
Percentage of civil registration covered for births: 28%

Access to Essential Medicines

Median availability of selected generic medicines (Private) (Global Health Observatory, 2007-2013): 65.4
Median availability of selected generic medicines (Public) (Global Health Observatory, 2007-2013): 55.6
Hospital bed density: 0.8 beds/1,000 population
Number of ACT’s distributed by PMI in 2015: 9,459,625
Number of Sulfadoxine-Pyrimethamine treatments distributed by PMI in 2015: 1,194,699
IPT usage rate for pregnant women who recieved IPTp2: 14%
Median availability of selected generic medicines: 65.4% at private facilities, 55.6% at public facilities
Median consumer price ratio of selected generic medications: 2.3% at private facilities, 2.0% at public facilities

Immunization coverage among 1-year-olds (%) (Source: WHO/UNICEF coverage estimates for 1980-2014)

	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014
BCH	89	74	88	95	90
DTP3	60	74	75	74	80
HepB3	60	74	75	74	80
HibB3	60	74	75	74	80
MCV	74	74	72	76	77
PAB	77	70	70	75	82
PCV			13	31	61
Polio3	76	77	76	74	79
RotV
YFV	68	51	65	64	65

BCG: Bacille Calmette Guerin vaccine; DTP3: Third dose of diphtheria toxoid and pertussis vaccine; Hep83: Third dose of hepatitis B vaccine; Hib3: Third dose of Haemophilus influenza type B vaccine; MCV: Measles-containing vaccine; PAB: Protection at birth; PCV3: Third dose of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine; Pol3: Third dose of polio vaccine; Yfv: Yellow fever; RotaV: Rotavirus last dose (2nd or 3rd depending on schedule)

Financing

Total expenditure on health per capita (Intl $) (WHO, 2014): 32
Total expenditure on health as % of GDP (WHO, 2014): 4.3
Total funding from PMI from US government 2006-2015: 232,800,000
Out-of-Pocket expenditure as a percent of private expenditure on health: 69.8%
Private expenditure on health as a percentage of total expenditure on health: 46.9%

Leadership & Governance

Organization chart of the MoH