Burundi

Background
Shortly after holding its first democratic election in 1993, Burundi erupted in civil war, a long-running conflict which left an estimated 300,000 people - most of them civilians - dead, and several hundred thousand displaced. While a peace agreement was reached between the government and rebel factions in late 2002, security remains tenuous, and the lengthy process of disarming thousands of soldiers and former rebels, as well as forming a new national army, continues.

The conflict crippled Burundi’s social services and destabilized the health care system. Farmers forced from their land have not planted grain, causing food shortages and ultimately, malnutrition. Many internally displaced live in squalid camps where disease is rampant, clean water is unavailable, and shelter is makeshift, at best. Burundi faces the formidable task of reviving its shattered economy and helping its people get back on their feet.

What IMC Is Doing
IMC has worked in this unstable environment since 1995 to distribute food to the malnourished and provide immunizations, a range of preventive and curative health care services, and clean water and sanitation to the internally displaced and hard-hit communities. IMC has trained these civilians in transit camps to identify and help prevent common diseases, and has coordinated mobile clinics that visit villages in some of the most inaccessible parts of the country. Also, IMC has refurbished health facilities in Muramvya and Kirundo provinces.

One of the biggest successes in Burundi is a community-based nutrition program IMC started in October 2005 for moderately malnourished children under the age of five in Rutana province. The program trains parents on how to prepare healthy foods with available and affordable local products. During the first three months of the program, 58 malnourished children and their parents participated in the training, and all but five of them gained weight after the initial twelve-day phase. The community is now aware that malnutrition can be corrected through change in food practices and behavior.

IMC now operates therapeutic and supplemental feeding centers in health facilities in Muyinga, Kirundo, and Rutana provinces, where drought and food shortages have exacerbated an already severe malnutrition problem. IMC is also training traditional birth attendants and community health educators to provide information on nutrition, sanitation, and prevention of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS.

In Rutana province, IMC operates a school feeding program –aimed at children 6-12 years of age – to alleviate short-term hunger, improve access to education and reduce disparity in attendance rates between girls and boys.

IMC is also implementing a project to improve the quality of health center services, increase the knowledge of how to fight childhood illnesses, and improve the management capacity of targeted health centers in Muyinga and Kirundo provinces.

In Kirundo province, IMC has an HIV/AIDS project that increases access to voluntary counseling and testing for the general population, as well as to programs for prevention of mother-to-child transmission for pregnant women. The project also boosts the medical care for HIV positive patients in the region, including improved access to opportunistic infection prevention programs for people living with HIV/AIDS.