In Bujumbura, we provided care for victims of trauma and burns in the 68-bed l’Arche Kigobe hospital. Our medical teams carried out 22,400 consultations in the emergency room and over 4,000 surgical interventions during the year.

Over six per cent of the patients admitted were victims of violence. In the outpatient department, our teams performed almost 9,500 medical consultations, 20,000 wound dressings and 14,300 physiotherapy sessions.

After responding to a significant increase in malaria cases in Ryansoro district (Gitega province) in 2017, we followed up in 2018 with indoor residual spraying, a technique that consists of spraying individual houses with insecticide to kill off mosquitoes.

In two waves over a six-month period, 322 Burundian Ministry of Health staff and locally recruited volunteers supported by MSF sprayed more than 35,000 houses in rural areas, offering protection to a total of 160,000 people. We also provided malaria treatment at 14 health centres and Ntita district hospital, and supported the local blood bank in Gitega.  

We maintain the ability to respond to emergencies in Burundi, and were therefore able to support the Ministry of Health during a cholera outbreak that hit the town of Rumonge at the end of the year.

The outbreak was announced on 28 December and we had a team on site that same day. We provided medical and logistical supplies, an ambulance and training to the ministry, as well as clean water for the community.