Vital medicines arrive in Burundi

Burundi’s public health statistics are among the world’s most shocking.  For every 100,000 people there are 3 doctors available and 1 in 5 children dies before the age of five.  The UN estimates that almost 70 percent of Burundi's 7 million people are undernourished. 

It is here, to one of the poorest and sickest nations in the world, that World Emergency Relief (UK) is sending £61,000 worth of critically needed medical supplies, to be distributed to local hospitals and medical clinics.

The latest batch of medical supplies shipped to Burundi, central Africa, by WER consists of antibiotics, steroid creams and painkillers (Ibuprofen).  The provisions will be received by local partner African Revival Ministries (ARM) and will be distributed via Jabae hospital to other local hospitals and medical centres around the country.

Burundi is recovering after years of violent civil war.  But the return of tens of thousands of refugees from surrounding countries has put the infrastructure and economy of Africa's most densely populated country under strain, making it difficult for hospitals to cater for the rapidly growing number of patients seeking medical care.

WER’s continuing shipments of medical aid make a big difference against diseases of poverty in this country where there is little or no access to essential medicines.  Shelves are empty in most of Burundi’s hospitals except for small stocks of aspirin, kept for emergencies.

Despite a lack of resources, hospitals are nonetheless overloaded with patients.  Doctors see patients and diagnose their illnesses, identifying the right treatment but are all too often unable to provide it.  In order to get treatment, patients often sell whatever possessions they own and then walk for miles to reach a pharmacy, where small amounts of medicine can be bought at extortionate prices.

WER has been working in partnership with ARM Burundi for 10 years providing basic medicines to hospitals and to medical clinics that provide treatment to patients free of charge.  Antibiotics, ibuprofen and steroid creams are the latest products to be shipped as these drugs are desperately sought after in Burundi and incredibly expensive to buy. 

The present alternative to antibiotics in Burundi is a drug called metamizole, the use of which has remained controversial, since it was discovered in the 1970s that the drug carries a risk of causing agranulocytosis, a very dangerous and potentially fatal blood condition.

While several national medical authorities have banned metamizole, the drug is prescribed in exceptional circumstances in Burundi, as a treatment for infections that could be treated with antibiotics.  With the antibiotics provided by WER, infectious respiratory diseases such as Bronchitis can be calmed.  The lives of women and children can be saved by antibiotics which combat the symptoms of pneumonia and urinal infections.

In Burundi the medicine served for every kind of pain, where available, is aspirin or paracetamol.  Ibuprofen, is being supplied by WER to hospitals in Burundi.  Unlike paracetamol, ibuprofen contains an anti-inflammatory agent.  This makes it a better pain reliever where there is muscular pain due to injury or inflammation- such as a strain, sprain, or arthritis.

The steroid cream being shipped by WER to Burundi’s hospitals is critical as well, for the treatment of disfiguring and painful skin infections related to or influenced by concomitant HIV infection.  Skin conditions in Burundi are commonplace yet they have a damaging effect on the quality of life of women and children in particular, who suffer discrimination and exclusion as a result of the stigma attached to the skin symptoms of the HIV infection.

Dr. Aline Muryango, ARM Burundi Projects Director expressed the extent to which WER’s support is making an impact on the medical situation in her country.

“The supplies provided by WER have an enormous impact on the quality of healthcare that hospitals are able to provide to patients,” said Dr. Aline Muryango, ARM Burundi Projects Director.  “The basic medical supplies that are shipped here are essential for us because many of the local hospitals have almost entirely run out of supplies.  We have no other resources except basic medical treatment.  If we don’t have even this, then people continue to suffer for months.  Some people can save enough money to buy from the pharmacies but most people are still trying to collect money for their treatment months after their diagnosis.”

In addition to supporting ARM Burundi through the provision of quality goods such as pharmaceuticals, hospital equipment and general medical supplies, WER provides cash grants to fund long-term development programmes in Burundi, including education, HIV/AIDS care and counselling, agricultural training and care for orphans.  To learn more about WERs work or to find out how you can help go to www.wer-uk.org