Stopping the spread of disease
The epidemic of HIV/AIDS in the Democratic Republic of Congo is a problem exacerbated by the prevalence of sexual assault in a conflict region. An estimated 30% of survivors of rape in Congo are infected with HIV, and according to a study at the National Institute of Health, “under extreme conditions, 10,000 women and girls in Congo who are victims of sexual violence could contract HIV/AIDS each year.” With the outbreak of war in early 2025, Human Rights Watch reported in January 2026 that ‘conflict-related sexual violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has escalated, while support to survivors has significantly dropped.'“ Action Kivu’s AIDS Outreach is a program led by our medical specialist who canvasses the community, providing HIV/AIDS testing, education, and prevention tactics. The program has been a transformative success: when the program was launched in 2016, it was met with suspicion and doubt, but now it is sought out by the men and women of the community. Over the 15 year period since Action Kivu started supporting the HIV/AIDS Education & Testing Program, 16,245 tests have been administered.
People testing positive are offered access to treatment at a local clinic. They are taught how to manage the disease, breaking down the stigma surrounding it and saving lives.
Student educators are trained to take their knowledge of prevention and treatment into their schools, teaching their peers and engaging their families and communities.
The outreach also teaches family planning to men and women, who come to meetings to learn what contraceptives are available.
Feeding families displaced and impoverished by war
As fighting cut off roads, closed banks, and stripped families of homes and small businesses, hunger became one of the war's most immediate threats — made sharper by the near-total collapse of U.S. foreign aid to the region. In June 2025, Oxfam America reported that the shutdown of USAID had already cut off antiretroviral treatment for 8,200 people in the DRC. Against that backdrop, Action Kivu opened an emergency fund to provide direct food assistance to the families most at risk.
Every $120 gift provided a family of six with corn flour, rice, beans, salt, sugar, a bucket, a basin, a cup, and basic medicine — enough to sustain a household for three weeks. In the first distributions of 2025, dozens of families received support, including the most vulnerable: households with many children, and those with pregnant women. The Congo Peace School's campus, with its protocols and protected grounds, became a distribution point the community could safely reach.
