Nearly 200,000 people fled their homes in the last two months as violence escalated in Ituri province, northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), said the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

"People are living in constant terror of being attacked in an area where the humanitarian needs are sharply increasing," said Alex Wade, MSF head of mission in Ituri.

"The violence is systematically targeting villages and health centers in order to prevent the people who fled from returning," said MSF field coordinator Benjamin Courlet.

MSF has provided medical assistance to people in Ituri region since the conflict began.

As well as caring for the wounded, MSF teams provide treatment for common but deadly endemic diseases, including malaria, severe respiratory infections, diarrheal disease, and measles in hospitals, health centers, and community health centers in areas where displaced people have settled around Nizi, Drodro, and Angumu.