MAF staff load the most critical medical supplies aboard the small plane bound for Zobia. The remaining items were delivered on later flights. Photo by Jon Cadd.

BUNIA, Democratic Republic of the Congo, (WordNews.org) June 13, 2012  — Mission Aviation Fellowship made its first landing at the new Zobia airstrip to deliver medical supplies in remote parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

That June 9 landing has been followed by several others. The medication MAF is delivering is to combat malaria,  the leading cause of death in DRC. According to Doctors Without Borders, there has been a 250 percent increase in malaria cases in the country since 2009.

“The Cessna 206 was loaded with bulky meds and other medical equipment,” said Jon Cadd, MAF’s chief pilot in eastern DRC. “We had the smaller medicine boxes stuffed into every available nook and cranny.”

Cadd said the villages in northern DRC have been severely affected by malaria this year. The medical clinic in Zobia is underequipped and is not able to treat all the sick. MAF said in nearby Nebobongo, the small hospital was treating 88 malaria-infected children in a ward with 22 beds. MAF staff in Uganda obtained medical supplies and flew them to DRC, where they were then flown out to the small villages in need.

The new airstrip at Zobia was carved out of the jungle by villagers using hand tools to remove trees, brush, and grass. MAF’s June 9 flight was the first to the area in more than decades.

“We had been told that many people were dying for lack of malaria treatment, and the whole community was out for the great celebration when the little plane landed,” said Cadd. “People from the village had been working tirelessly to get the strip rehabilitated so the aircraft could bring the meds and medical teams that would help them. The paths through the forest are not big enough to accommodate a car, and until the airstrip opened everything had to come in by motorcycle or by foot.”