Burundi – SOS Medical and Social Centres

In Burundi there are currently four Social Centres and three Medical Centres for children and the local community: in Citiboke, Rutana, Bujumbara and Gitega.  Many SOS Social Centres operate via Family Strengthening Programmes, which aim to support the wider community.  Medical Centres’ provide treatment and services to the local community.  Below is some information about some of the Social Centres that SOS Children runs in Burundi:

SOS Medical and Social Centres around Burundi: In-Depth

Bujumbara

Description of SOS Social/ Medical Centre/FSP:

In 1992 an SOS Medical Centre was opened, with the aim of providing the people with medical care and informing them about local preventative measures. The Centre has five treatment rooms with beds, two check-up rooms, three treatment rooms as well as a reception and administration area. Since it opened, up to 1,400 patients have been seen there every month.

In January 2004, an SOS Social Centre opened at the SOS Children's Village of Bujumbura, with the intention to render assistance to the people of the neighbourhood. This program provides children from troubled families with social and material assistance and offers counselling in matters of education for children and career guidance for parents. Conceived with the aim of strengthening families against poverty, this program is run in cooperation with the local authorities.

Work and Achievements:

During 2009, the different departments of the SOS Medical Centre of Bujumbura provided appreciable care to patients in need of treatment. Activities planned during the different campaigns organized by the Public Health Ministry were carried out at the very centre. These campaigns aimed at improving mother-to-child health by vaccination, systematic parasite clearance, supplementation in vitamin A and in iron, as well as poliomyelitis and measles eradication. Following the free care provided to women who deliver in public hospitals, our maternity department is less frequented. In all, eight women in childbirth were followed up on and delivered normally. As for other patients admitted into the hospital, their number kept increasing. Out of 1,147 hospitalized patients, 405 were treated during the last three months of the year due to the increase of the number of malaria cases registered during that period.

For out-patients, 1,059 SOS children were treated of whom 542 boys and 517 girls. Compared to 2008, a drop of 8.6% was recorded. As for other patients, 20,282 consultations were done of which 9,183 were for children, 5,422 for women, and 5,677 for men. The total of patients treated in out-patient consultations and in hospitalization amounts to 22,488 by the end of 2009.

Concerning the fight against HIV/AIDS infection, an average of two information and awareness raising sessions were held per month. A number of 2,595 HIV/AIDS screening tests were done with 7.59% of seropositive cases. In addition, 265 pregnant women accepted to be HIV/AIDS screened and 9 among them were HIV-positive, which is a 3.4%. At the end the year 2009, Bujumbura’s SOS Medical Centre assured the follow-up of 244 people living with HIV/AIDS under ARV treatment.

Cibitoke

Description of SOS Social/Medical Centre/FSP:

The SOS Social and Medical Centre was opened with the aim of providing the people in the neighbourhood with medical care, informing them about local preventative measures, providing troubled families social and material assistance and offering counselling in matters of education for children and career guidance for parents. Conceived with the aim of strengthening the families against poverty, this program is acting in cooperation with the local authorities. This centre has a laboratory, a consultation room, a treatment room, two isolation rooms, a dispensing chemist and two rooms for the social workers.

Work and Achievements:

The SOS medical centre of Cibitoke was built with the SOS Children‘s Village of Cibitoke.  Constructions ended in September 2009.

During the third term of the year, we ordered equipments. The delivery of this equipments and the beginning of the centre activities are scheduled for the first term of 2010.

Rutana

Description of SOS Social/ Medical Centre/FSP:

An SOS Social Centre, open since January 2004, and an SOS Medical Centre, which has been open since construction work on the village was completed, aim to support people who have been infected with the HIV virus and their families (their children in particular). The SOS Medical Centre can treat up to 1,000 patients a month and the SOS Social Centre can take care of 100 children from troubled families. They raise awareness of the HIV virus among the people from neighbouring areas. They also provide people and families affected by the virus with food and medication as well as giving them medical and financial benefits (such as scholarships for children and one-off donations).

Gitega

Description of SOS Medical Centre:

Between 2004 and 2008, an SOS Social Centre and an SOS Medical Centre were opened with the aim of providing the people of the neighbourhood with medical care, informing them about local preventative measures, providing troubled families with social and material assistance and offering counselling in matters of education for children and career guidance for parents. Conceived with the aim of strengthening families against poverty, this program is run in cooperation with the local authorities.

Work and Achievements:

The SOS Medical Centre of Gitega provided medical care to 10,431 patients of whom 978 for SOS children and youths and 9,453 for children and adults of the community. Among these cases, we count 174 hospitalizations. Out of the 6 months the centre functioned in 2008, we had recorded 3,463 consultations and 28 hospitalizations.