Burundi is one of most impoverished countries in the world where some 80% of the population lives on under $1 a day.  Hunger and poverty are exacerbated by a lack of quality medical care. This is most acutely felt by Burundian women and children, with 1 in 23 women dying during pregnancy or childbirth, and about 1 in 20 children dying before their first birthday.

Burundi also faces an increase in diabetes, hypertension, stroke, chronic respiratory diseases, HIV, tetanus, malaria, measles, malnutrition, and so on.

Although the government has made efforts to improve health care services and there has been a downward trend in the mortality rate of young people, Burundi still ranks among the world’s least developed countries (185th place out of 189 countries on the Human Development Index in 2019), and over 70% of its population lives below the poverty line.

Alexis Nizigiyimana is one of eight children from a farming family in the rural area of Mugamba, Burundi, where access to health-care services for the local population of nearly 500,000 entails a 60 kilometre journey. Motivated by a health-related family tragedy, the then 8-year old Alexis vowed to do everything he could so that no other family would endure the same fate. With the support of his parents – who had never been to school – Alexis and his 7 siblings all graduated from university. With his medical degree in hand, the determined Alexis founded the Ubuntu Village of Life Medical Clinic in Mugamba.

This small clinic provides a wide range of health services including general medicine, pre- and post-natal services, ophthalmology, minor surgery, pediatrics and more. It is the only clinic in Mugamba with lab services, an ambulance and highly qualified healthcare personnel. It also has the only pharmacy in the region.

This small health clinic quickly realized that the demand was far greater than their capacity.  Since opening, Ubuntu Village of Life has thousands of people from the area and beyond, including 4 neighbouring provinces and people who live closer to public hospitals but chose to come to them.

In 2022, Myriad Canada began working with Ubuntu Village of Life to renovate and equip a new building for the clinic, increasing their capacity to serve the local community. While the new clinic continues to be a great success, the needs continue to grow.

Goals

This project will improve the quality of and increase access to healthcare services for residents in Mugamba, Burundi at the Ubuntu Village of Life Clinic.