Ongoing armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo has taken an estimated 4 million lives since 1998. Estimates range from attributing 2 to 4 million deaths to the 5 year war, to placing 3 million during the war and 1 to 2 million more in fractious post-conflict unrest and deprivation. The Lancet now reports 36,000 people per month are still dying from a combination of armed conflict, criminal violence, disease and malnutrition. [Full Story]

Anti-malaria activist and missionary groups report malaria is world's unseen pandemic, killing millions but largely unnoticed in the developed world. In April 2003, the United States' Department of Health and Human Services reported that malaria "affects an estimated 500 million people and results in up to 2 million deaths each year", with 90 percent of those deaths concentrated in Africa. The same report estimates an average of 3,000 children are killed every day in Africa by malaria parasites. [Full Story]

The refugee crisis in Darfur, in western Sudan, is deepening, with more Sudanese seeking refuge in the dangerous neighboring country of Chad. The UN has designated the Darfur crisis the world's worst humanitarian disaster at present. The UN has cited incidents of mass killing that it classifies as ethnic cleansing, carried out by government backed Arab militia. The ongoing violence has made the distribution of aid extremely complicated... [Full Story]