HEALTH
HEALTH
Burundi’s healthcare system has faced several challenges in the past. On the one hand, outbreaks of cholera were repeatedly reported in various parts of the country. Secondly, there were around seven million cases of malaria – out of a population of just eleven million. The development and spread of Ebola in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo was particularly threatening. Burundi took precautionary measures, trained staff and prepared its borders to prevent transmission. Staff at the Fondation Stamm hospital were immunised when the vaccine became available. Due to its proximity to the border, the hospital’s catchment area was considered a risk area.
Hospital HHK
The Hôpital Hippocrate de Kajaga (HHK) hospital is located directly next to the Ecole Polyvalente Carolus Magnus (EPCM) school in Kajaga – just a few kilometres from the border with the neighbouring state of Congo. Since 2010, the hospital has been providing a 24-hour service and professional staff to ensure medical care in a catchment area of around 80,000 people. In 2011, the HHK was expanded to include a gynaecology department. The hospital also has its own ambulance service for patient transport – a rare service in the region.
The unique selling point of the HHK in the region is the support and treatment of pregnant women before and after birth. Doctors can also perform caesarean sections in the hospital’s delivery room. The HHK also has incubators – both stationary and mobile, should an emergency transfer to a larger clinic in the city of Bujumbura be necessary. At the same time, the HHK is considered a reference for the smaller, less well-equipped health centres in the predominantly rural region, which often refer patients.
The HHK is partly financed by its own income and by our partner burundikids Switzerland. Burundikids e.V. provides support with the delivery of medicines in the event of shortages, the organisation of medical missions and the general development of the hospital.
Click here for the 360° virtual reality tour of the HHK.
Teaching pharmacy
A teaching pharmacy has been set up in the south of the economic capital Bujumbura. It is part of an overall concept to improve the supply of healthcare and medicines in Burundi.
In addition, the teaching pharmacy is to be integrated into the proven concept for school and vocational training of the Stamm Foundation. To this end, a co-operation with the Ecole Polyvalente Carolus Magnus (EPCM), the only school in Burundi to date that offers training in PTA (pharmaceutical technical assistance), is planned. In addition, the teaching pharmacy will function as a social enterprise, the profits of which will flow exclusively to the Stamm Foundation’s educational institutions. A further cooperation is possible with the Centre Médical Hippocrate (CMH). The hospital is primarily supported by the Burundikids Switzerland Foundation – in cooperation with Burundikids e.V. Germany. The hospital is also supported by the Fondation Stamm in Burundi.
