The nearly 90,000 refugees who fled to Burundi after the recent escalation of violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo face dire conditions in cramped camps with limited access to food and water, aid agencies say.
Congolese M23 rebels recently captured the city of Uvira, near the Burundi border, and the fighting forced hundreds of thousands from their homes. The rebels say they have since withdrawn.
Medical charity MSF, which has been providing emergency help, has raised concerns about the worsening humanitarian situation.
The UN's refugee agency, UNCHR, said those especially affected are children and women - including pregnant women - some who reported going without food for days.
MSF reported treating an average of 200 people daily since the refugees started arriving in Burundi in the last two weeks. We see people in a state of distress, despair and exhaustion. We see women who gave birth while fleeing, some that give birth in our clinic, said Zakari Moluh, the MSF project coordinator describing the situation in Ndava, northwest Burundi.
The charity has warned of the risk of the spread of epidemic diseases such as cholera and measles, and a catastrophic increase of malaria cases among vulnerable people.
Meanwhile, the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) states it is increasing its life-saving aid to over 210,000 of the most vulnerable people displaced by the DR Congo violence. It mentions that about half a million people have been forced from their homes in South Kivu province since the beginning of December.
The WFP supports 71,000 new Congolese arrivals to Burundi with hot meals in transit centres and adds that services across the province are on the brink of collapse, with health centres looted and schools closed. The agency has called for urgent funding to continue providing food aid in the next three months.
The capture of Uvira earlier this month extended the M23's territorial gains in eastern DR Congo after earlier capturing Goma and Bukavu. The rebels claimed to have pulled out from Uvira under US pressure, although Congolese authorities dispute this.
The US brokered a peace deal between the Congolese and Rwandan governments intended to end the long-running conflict in DR Congo, amid accusations against Rwanda for backing M23 rebels, which it denies.
