WORLD OUTREACH
INITIATIVES
Blood testing equipment
for slum clinic - Burundi
REGIONAL BACKGROUND
Burundi is a small,
mountainous country, originally inhabited by Twa Pygmies. During
colonial times the country came under the control of Belgium and
regained independence in 1962. The official languages are
Kirundi and French. Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi, is
situated at the north eastern tip of Lake Tanganyika and
supports a population of over 270,000. The majority of the
population are Hutus, while Tutsis and the original inhabitants,
Twa Pygmies, form minorities.
PROJECT BACKGROUND
Over the last two
decades, ethnic conflict between Hutu and Tutsi factions in
Burundi has created hundreds of thousands of refugees and an
estimated 300,000 have died. Overshadowed by violence in
neighbouring Rwanda, this has been called the 'hidden
genocide'. Most Burundians lack access to food, basic social
services and economic opportunities and are extremely
vulnerable to HIV/AIDS.
As a result, the Bujumbura slums
are very poor and people are living in misery. The escalation
of the ongoing ethnic conflict between the Hutus and the
Tutsis and the increase of HIV/AIDS have saturated government
resources. The 5,000 or so street children, most of whom have
been orphaned due to war or the AIDS pandemic, are, therefore,
very vulnerable to diseases, hunger, drug abuse, prostitution,
and violence.
PROJECT AIMS
World Outreach Initiatives is
an international charity whose primary vision is to reach
the poorest of the poor in the most needy places in the
world, with particular focus on Burundi, East Congo and
South Rwanda. In
Bujumbura they
seek to achieve this through providing the primary needs –
home (shelter), food security, primary education, vocational
training and HIV/AIDS awareness. WOI have four street
children homes operating in Bujumbura, catering for over 600
children. One of these focuses specifically on HIV/AIDS
orphans.
WOI have also opened two
health clinics in the slum areas. Here the locals
receive maternity care, help is offered to abused women
and girls, treatment is given for malaria, amongst other
diseases. There is a solid core team consisting of a
doctor, six nurses, three assistant nurses, an
administrator, four guards and two cleaners.
Nevertheless, these clinics are very sparse and the
laboratory is only equipped to diagnose malaria. WOI
seek to purchase more medical equipment in order to give
the patients a proper diagnosis. (It is a common theme
for the slum dwellers to by-pass consultation due to the
high cost and prescribe themselves medicine, which is
often counter- productive.)
HOW YOU HAVE HELPED
The money that you have
given through the Besom has been used to purchase an Elisa
Reader and washer for the clinics. This apparatus is a
blood testing (serology) device used to analyse blood
samples for any disorder. It can detect the AIDS virus
among many others. The washer will be used to surgically
clean the instrument between use. This is a vital piece of
equipment for the clinics and will help diagnose patients
at a much earlier stage and, therefore, allow for correct
and proper prescriptions.
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