More than 100 victims of sexual violence perpetrated by aid workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo have so far received help via the World Health Organization, the WHO announced on Tuesday.

The UN health agency has been much criticised over the years for its slow response to allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse by aid workers sent to the DR Congo during the 2018-2020 Ebola outbreak.

Of the 115 victims identified so far, 104 have accepted the offer of medical, psychological or financial help, said Eugene Kongnyuy, the United Nations Population Fund's representative in the DRC.

UNPA, which fights against sexual violence, has been mandated by the WHO to find the victims -- often in very difficult conditions -- and provide them with assistance, said Gaya Gamhewage, who heads the Prevention of and Response to Sexual Misconduct programme at the agency.

"What we're learning with victim/survivor support everywhere is that we have to treat people like people," rather than as medical or psycho-social cases, she told a press conference.

"That whatever people need is made available."

UNFPA therefore had to find ways to provide long-term assistance to the 17 children born out of sexual abuse.

"We need to take care of the children in terms of their schooling, and in nutritional support," said Kongnyuy.

"And then we need to do DNA testing to identify the paternity.

"Until we know the father, then we'll have to figure out how to continue taking care of the child."

Kongnyuy said one obstacle, among many others, was the issue of how to respect survivors' anonymity in their community while providing help, to avoid the risk of victims facing reprisals or stigmatisation.

The WHO has set up a $2 million special fund and has disbursed $350,000 so far to finance partnerships in the DRC.

Besides UNFPA, partnerships have been struck with Heal Africa, a Christian NGO active in eastern DRC, and Dynamique des femmes juristes, an NGO providing legal assistance to the 13 victims who decided to launch legal proceedings in Africa's second-biggest country.

The WHO fund will pay for all identified victims, even if only a third were sexually exploited or abused by its own employees or subcontractors.

In 2021, an independent report established that 21 WHO employees were among the 83 humanitarian workers accused of sexual exploitation and abuse against dozens of people in the DRC during the Ebola outbreak.

Though other UN agencies were involved, attention has focused on the WHO, especially so given that since then, dozens of its main donor countries have twice complained of sluggishness and a lack of transparency in its response.