Posts

, , ,

Ongoing Violations of Human Rights in Burundi

Human Rights in BurundiSince the political upheaval of Burundi’s 2015 elections, the Imbonerakure, the youth wing of the ruling party, continues to pose a direct threat toward human rights in Burundi, as confirmed by recent rape chants caught on video.

As 21,000 Burundians fled to Rwanda in 2015 due to the Imbonerakure, many believe that the presence of this youth wing serves a source of intimidation and violence to quell the opposition to President Pierre Nkurunziza’s controversial third term.

While a two-term limit exists in Burundi’s national constitution, the ruling party claimed that Nkurunziza’s first term failed to count since he was originally elected by parliament, causing an upheaval of opposition that still prevails today.

Since the election, Imbonerakure members continue to rape, torture and kill Burundi citizens. Investigators have revealed that the targets of the youth party are most often women whom they believe to have ties to anti-government supporters, including the wives and daughters of opposition members.

The United Nations’ mission in Burundi described the group as “one of the major threats to peace in Burundi and to the credibility of the 2015 elections as they are responsible for most politically motivated violence against the opposition.” Recent action on the part of the youth wing has shown their threats to have only become worse.

On April 1, 200 members of Burundi’s ruling party youth league marched through the center of Ntega, chanting, “Impregnate the opposition, so they give birth to Imbonerakure.  There are lots of girls. Impregnate them, Imbonerakure!”

While this song serves as the reality for many of Burundi’s people, one man decided to file a complaint with the police after two policemen raped his wife. As a result, this man was beaten by Imbonerakure members and told by the police that he was “staining the image of the security forces.”

As the youth league continues to violate human rights in Burundi, the people live in fear, as they are afraid to speak out knowing that President Pierre Nkurunziza’s government makes no effort to prosecute or provide consequences for the Imbonerakure’s crimes.

While the Imbonerakure continue to impose themselves as a threat to the nation, is clear that human rights in Burundi will not be maintained until government officials take action to address these heinous acts of brutality.

– Kendra Richardson

Photo: Flickr

, , , ,

The Most Common Diseases in Burundi

The Most Common Diseases in BurundiBurundi is a landlocked nation located in East Africa that shares borders with Rwanda, Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Over the past decade, Burundi has had a sustained decrease in its child mortality rate, from 114.5 deaths per 1000 live births in 2007 to 81.7 deaths per 1000 live births in 2015.

This state has been achieved due to several factors, including some vaccine programs – such as the rotavirus vaccines introduced in 2013 – all of which have helped to increase the supply and accessibility of health services. Nonetheless, the death rate in Burundi is still pretty high.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the infant mortality rate in the United States is 5.82 deaths per 1000 live births. Considering the population of Burundi is slightly under the population of the state of Ohio in the U.S., this is quite a significant difference. What makes matters more worrisome is that the common diseases in Burundi that do the most damage are for the most part avoidable.

Overall, diarrhea, lower respiratory disease and other common infectious diseases are the deadliest causes of harm in Burundi. This is supported by the fact that 20.1 percent of deaths are caused by these diseases. They are followed closely by HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis at 13.8 percent and neglected tropical diseases and malaria at 13.3 percent.

Again when looking at the common diseases in Burundi, we must understand that while much work still needs to be done, in the larger scope of things the situation is improving. The nation’s child mortality rate is dropping; death due to malaria has decreased by 69.1 percent, and above all, there is more knowledge and awareness about preventative health measures.

As said before, the common diseases in Burundi that do the most damage are for the most part avoidable. According to healthdata.org, the biggest risk factors that drive the most death and disability in Burundi include child and maternal malnutrition, unsafe water, sanitation, and hand washing. If the 3732.8 deaths due to diarrheal diseases can be cut down with access to clean water, then this problem appears to be solvable.

– Obinna Iwuji

Photo: Flickr

, , ,

Access to Clean Water and Sanitation Services in Burundi

Access to Clean Water and Sanitation Services in Burundi

In 2015, Burundi’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita was the lowest in the world at 276 U.S. dollars, and its population density was one of the highest at 435 people per square kilometer of land area, according to The World Bank. As a result, everyday things such as access to clean water and sanitation services in Burundi can be a struggle for the people who live there.

Burundi is located in the Great Lakes Region of East Africa and has been called “the Heart of Africa” because of its geographic shape and location. Although landlocked, the country’s freshwater sources are plentiful. Nearly the entire western border of Burundi lies on the shores of Lake Tanganyika, and most of its northern side is bordered by the Kanyaru River. Other bodies of water there include the Malagarasi, Rusize and Ruvubu Rivers; and Cohaha and Rwero Lakes.

A 2010 Water and Sanitation Profile on Burundi from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) reported that their renewable internal freshwater availability was equal to just under 330,000 gallons per person every year. With a number as large as this, how is it possible that access to clean water and sanitation services in Burundi is a struggle?

The Problems Facing Access to Clean Water and Sanitation Services in Burundi

Since 1962, four wars have taken place in Burundi, the results of which have directly impacted their water sector infrastructure. “Burundi’s water supply and sanitation (WSS), sector endured years of destruction brought on by sabotage and neglect during the civil war and its aftermath […] several kilometers of water pipes, connections and 80% of installed meters were destroyed,” according to USAID. This caused many people to use untreated water, which led to waterborne diseases, triggering higher mortality rates.

In 2000, world leaders adopted the U.N. Millennium Declaration along with seven goals, known as the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), which had targets for addressing extreme poverty. Goal number 7, target 10, was to “halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe water and basic sanitation.” USAID reported that in 2008, 72% of urban and rural populations in Burundi had access to drinking water, and 46% had access to sanitation services. There was significant improvement seen in the availability of sanitation services, with 1.2 million people gaining access since 1990.

Although Burundi was likely to meet the MDG, targeting sustainable access to drinking water, it was not expected to reach the “water and sanitation services in Burundi” target. However, the Government of Burundi was working to improve their WSS sector by creating new policies to increase coverage throughout the country, according to the USAID. Past and current donors contributing to the WSS sector include the African Development Bank (AfDB), the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and The World Bank.

– Kristin Westad

Photo: Flickr

, , ,

Malnutrition in Burundi

Malnutrition in BurundiPopulated with over 10 million people, Burundi is a densely packed, landlocked East African country with the worst rates of malnutrition in the world.

Burundi was rated the world’s leading nation affected by hunger, according to the 2014 Global Hunger Index (GHI), a score calculated annually by the International Food Policy Research Institute. Plagued with political turmoil and prone to natural disasters, Burundi has seen rates of malnutrition increase in recent years. Despite global strides in combating malnutrition in recent history, Burundi is one of only four nations that has seen an increase in GHI from 1990 to 2014, indicating a worsening situation in the country. With 67.3 percent of the overall population undernourished, it is one of two countries with a hunger situation labeled “extremely alarming” in the study.

As the vast majority of Burundi’s population relies on agriculture, many of the country’s inhabitants combat food insecurity and malnutrition due to climate hazards, limited land access and limited crop diversity. Despite a constantly growing population, food production has stagnated at pre-1993 levels, according to the World Food Programme. Additionally, due to the rising costs of food — the price of beans increased by nearly 50 percent in recent years — the average household now spends over 70 percent of its income on food. While the nation’s government has programs in place to assist in the fight against malnutrition, it is growing increasingly costly for the country to deal with the worsening problem.

Common causes of malnutrition in the country include kwashiorkor and marasmus, both of which can stunt development and can be life-threatening if not treated. Although women and young children are most at risk for diseases caused by malnutrition, many men are also affected.

Additionally, many children and women suffer from a lack of micronutrients in their diets. In the first two years of life, it is especially crucial for children to get sufficient amounts of micronutrients such as iron, Vitamin A, iodine and zinc. Such nutrients are critical for physical growth and intellectual development.

Anemia is one of the biggest deficiency problems currently faced in Burundi, with 56 percent of children under the age of 5, and 47 percent of pregnant women anemic, according to the World Bank. Additionally, nearly half of the population as a whole is at risk for insufficient zinc intake, and a quarter of the country’s children under 5 and 12 percent of women are Vitamin A deficient. Although the effects of these deficiencies are less dire in the short term, they contribute to life-threatening illnesses and issues.

In order to address the problems of malnutrition in Burundi, the World Bank recommends extensive vitamin A supplementation and deworming in children under 5-years-old and increased iron supplementation for pregnant women. While about 96 percent of households are already consuming iodized salt, the World Bank recommends “universal salt iodization” in order to control iodine deficiency and avoid IQ loss in young children. Working to increase market and infrastructure development to promote dietary diversity can also combat issues with malnourishment.

Education and counseling services can also serve to improve feeding habits for children under five years old. While Burundi sees a lack of gender equality in most sects of life, women are still seen to have a strong maternal role in the family. UNICEF found that children of mothers with at least a primary level of education have 94 percent of fewer risks of growth stunting from malnutrition than children of mothers with no education. The study showed that mothers with some level of education had been proactive in managing malnutrition than other mothers, recognizing the importance of good breastfeeding habits, clean living and staggering pregnancies.

Since 2005, the Ministry of Health has emphasized building community-based infrastructure to screen for and treat acute malnutrition. Many organizations are also working with the Burundi government to increase education programs for mothers in order to deal with the country’s chronic malnutrition. In 2012, Burundi signed on to the Scaling up Nutrition initiative, which works with the United Nations, civil society, donors, businesses and researchers to work with communities on this issue. The initiative involves an interdisciplinary approach to combating malnutrition. Burundi’s approach, as established through the initiative, involves working to protect maternity leave, create legislation on the marketing of breast milk substitute, establish national directives on food, diversify and increase its food production, and increase nutrition education. The established goal in 2012 was to reduce malnutrition rates by 10 percent by 2016. No information has been released by Scaling up Nutrition or by the Burundian government on the progress of this goal.

– Arin Kerstein

Sources: International Food Policy Research Institute, International Food Policy Research Institute, Iwacu-Burundi, Scaling Up Nutrition, World Bank, Wolrd Food Programme, UNICEF
Photo: The Guardian

, ,

Burundi Protests Threaten Economic Stability

Burundi_protests
Violent protests following President Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision to pursue a third term have left at least 19 dead and pushed over 50,000 out of their homes. With the streets ablaze in Burundi, a landlocked southeastern African country, analysts fear for the region’s economic stability.

A shirtless man, sporting a pink whistle around his neck, screamed at army officials for bulldozing a barricade made of old tires, his French wavering. Mismatched protestors stood behind the man, while police officials slowly closed in on the group, billy-clubs raised.

Days later, tear gas and live ammunition would be used on hundreds of civilians gathered only a kilometer away from Nkurunziza in the country’s capital of Bujumbura.

This political discord follows a decade-long civil war that ended in 2005 with the Arusha Agreement, which set the terms for the presidency. The accord, implemented by the constitution, reads “no one may serve more than two presidential terms.”

Operating on this basis, many Burundians see a third term as an illegal and unjust power grab. For some, however, the issue with Nkurunziza extends beyond these technicalities. For the past five years, the president has muffled the voices of his people – restricting the press and the freedom to protest.

“This present electoral problem is the result of the last five years’ rule of President Nkurunziza,” said Thierry Vircoulon, the project director for Central Africa at the International Crisis Group.

Though economic growth has remained stable in years past, mostly because of coffee exportation and the mining of nickel, the mass exodus of Burundi citizens could have serious monetary implications. According to Antonio Guterres, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, there are currently more than 20,000 refugees in Rwanda, 10,000 in Tanzania and 5,000 in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“We are extremely worried,” he said, speaking in Nairobi.

Rwanda, already a haven for 74,000 refugees from the Congo, has been overwhelmed since mid-April. Though a new Mahama refugee camp is capable of holding 60,000, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees predicts this still won’t be enough.

Sitting slightly above Rwanda and bordering Lake Victoria, Uganda will likely feel the heat of the protests. Exporting large amounts of coffee and scrap metal, Burundi currently stands as Uganda’s biggest trade partner, according to a tax analysis report.

“We are expecting if the situation in Burundi gets worse there could some economic effect on Uganda,” said Nebert Rugadya, a business commentator in Kampala.

The instability in Burundi has had a domino effect – compromising trade, straining health care systems and drying up foreign aid in neighboring nations. According to François Conradie from the African Economic Consultants NKC, tension could also foment civil war in the region of Goma on the Congo-Rwanda border.

“A stable Burundi means a lot for stability in the region,” Rugadya said.

Concerns over an overall reduced quality of life are also surfacing. The country’s 67 percent poverty rate, which has been greatly increased by civil conflict in years past, continues to climb.

– Lauren Stepp

Sources: BBC, UNICEF, US News, VOX, Washington Post
Photo: Flickr

, , ,

The Three Hungriest Countries

hungriest countries
Today, there are over 870 million people in the world who are hungry. The World Food Programme estimated that 98 percent of these individuals live in developing countries that actually produce the majority of the world’s food supplies.

There are nineteen countries that the Global Hunger Index name as having “alarming levels of hunger.” However, there are three countries in particular that top the list — the three hungriest countries — harboring the greatest number of people suffering from hunger.

This Index takes into account three main indicators: the proportion of the population that is undernourished, the proportion of young children who are underweight, and the mortality rate for children under five years old.

The first is Burundi, with 73.4 percent of its population undernourished. Over 50 percent of Burundi’s population of 9.85 million live below the poverty line and nearly 35 percent of the adult population are completely out of work.

The second is Comoros, with 70 percent of its people undernourished. Comoros, a collection of three small islands off the coast of Mozambique, has a population of only 800,000. However, half of this small population lives below the country’s low poverty line.

The third is Eritrea, with 65.4 percent of its population undernourished. The country is located at the horn of Africa, and although it has experienced significant economic growth in recent years, no progress has been seen when it comes to the country’s dire hunger crisis.

Why are these countries struggling? Severe hunger in many of these regions is a product of immense political strife, economic turmoil, violent conflict, as well as other particular circumstances.

For example, although the amount of underweight children in Burundi has decreased within the past decade, 15 years of civil war has plagued the nation with extreme poverty, which reflects directly on the nation’s economic and nutritional well-being. Nearly 58 percent of Burundians remain chronically malnourished.

Comoros has also experienced immense violence in the form of nearly 20 attempted and successful coups since gaining independence in 1975. Eritrea has lived through intense political isolation under President Isaias Afewerki, who led the country in a 30-year war with Ethiopia.

Regardless of the causes, more action is needed to alleviate the suffering of these 870 million starving people, and especially in the three hungriest countries. The international community is beginning to focus greatly on prevention of future food crises in addition to responding to the current one. Dominic MacSorley of the organization Concern stressed that, “Aid agencies, governments and international organizations need to learn lessons from the past and boost future protection measures to reduce the impact of extreme weather events and other hazards on the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people.”

– Cambria Arvizo

Sources: Thomson Reuters Foundation, All Africa, Ecointersect, Global Citizen
Photo: Action Against Hunger

, ,

New Fish Drying Method Feeds Burundi

fish drying
A new fish drying method pioneered by a tiny U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization project in Burundi has had tremendous results. Instead of laying the sardine-like ngagala in the hot sand, raised racks were implemented to dry the fish. This simple strategy has cut fish waste by half, created employment for hundreds of Burundians and caused a boost in the economic prospects of fishing.

Ndagala have been a staple of the Burundian diet for centuries. With some 60 percent of Burundians currently lacking the essential amount of protein in their diets, the nutrients from ndagala are a precious commodity.

However, before the FAO project, the ndagala drying process was wasteful, inefficient and extremely physically taxing.

The old method of drying the fish took place on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in Burundi. Women laborers would lay the ndagala on the sand to dry in the sun, where they were easy targets for animals and ran the risk of being trampled and contaminated.

According to the FAO, around 15 percent of the fish catch was lost or spoiled during the drying process.

But 10 years ago, with the help of Burundi’s Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, FAO launched a project in a village called Mvugo. This project installed 48 cheap wire-mesh racks suspended a meter above the ground, offered training and distributed leaflets on how to build the racks.

The benefits of this tiny project were almost immediately apparent.

This new method reduced drying time from three days, to only eight hours. The racks protect the fish from animals, and can be covered from the rain to prevent spoilage. Workers need not bend over to spread and turn the fish, reducing the physical toll of the labor.

The overall quality of the fish improved. According to rack owner Domitien Ndabaneze, “Our fishes are of a good quality without small gravel or stones and they are dried in hygienic conditions. With our products, customers are no longer concerned with eating sandy fish.”

The price of fish has more than doubled, from 4,000 Burundian francs in 2004 ($2.5/kg), to 9000 ($6/kg) in 2013. The increasingly lucrative trade has attracted more men workers, and the total acreage dedicated to fishing on the shores of Lake Tanganyika has expanded dramatically.

Manufacturers of the racks have sprung up on the coastline, and thanks to the increased shelf life of the fish they can be transported inland to feed other Burundi villages.

This impactful project is an example of how small-scale solutions can have large-scale benefits. The FAO plans to continually promote and strengthen the use of drying racks in countries such as Kenya, Uganda and Zambia, in hopes that more villagers will experience the life-improving benefits of this simple invention.

–Grace Flaherty

Sources: FAO, UN
Photo: UN

10 Hungriest Countries and the Reason Why

10 hungriest countries
This year, 870 million people in the will face continual, day to day hunger. Ninety-eight percent of these hungry people live in developing countries, even though these countries are the ones producing much of the world’s food.

In October 2013, international humanitarian organization Concern Worldwide published a list of the 10 hungriest countries in the world, most of which were in Africa. The list includes Burundi, Eritrea, Comoros, Timor Leste, Sudan, Chad, the Yemen Republic, Ethiopia, Madagascar and Zambia. Patterns as to why these particular countries are hungry have strong historical correlations.

Here are five reasons why these countries are suffering from hunger.

1. Landlocked countries are resource scarce

Countries like Burundi and Chad are landlocked, and they struggle to connect with the coastal areas of Africa. Landlocked countries as a whole have poor transportation links to the coast, either by their own fault or through developmentally and infrastructurally challenged neighbors. Without access to the coast, it’s difficult to integrate with global markets. Thus, they are also cut off from global flows of knowledge, technology and innovation, and unable to benefit completely from trade. Often, the cost of transportation for importing and exporting raw materials is exorbitantly high. Burundi experiences 6 percent less economic growth than non-landlocked countries in Africa, and as many as 58 percent of Burundi‘s citizens are chronically malnourished.

2. Productive land remains unused

In some countries, land is not being effectively used. In Eritrea, almost a quarter of the country’s productive land remains unused following the 1998-2000 Eritrean-Ethiopian war. The war displaced nearly 1 million Eritreans, leaving the country with a need for skilled agricultural workers, as well as plaguing the lands with mines. There is a lot of potentially fertile land in Africa, but the majority of farmers don’t have the technology or means to use the land to its full value. Because of these discrepancies, incomes remain low.

3. War and violence destroy country infrastructure

Countries with a low level of income, slow economic growth, and a dependence on commodity exports are prone to civil war – and most of the hungriest countries have experienced war and violence for decades. Once a cycle of violence and civil war begins in a country, it’s hard to break the pattern. Timor Leste is still paying for seeking independence from Indonesia, which damaged the country’s infrastructure. Sudan is slowly recovering from two civil wars and war in the Darfur region. Chad has had tensions between its northern and southern ethnic groups for years, which has contributed to its political and economic instability.

4. Extreme climate conditions and climate change

Sometimes, causes for hunger are unavoidable – like weather. The 2011 Horn of Africa drought left 4.5 million people in Ethiopia hungry, and since 85 percent of the population earns their income from agriculture, any drought has a detrimental impact on Ethiopians. As an island off the coast of Africa, Madagascar is especially prone to natural disasters like cyclones and flooding, and experienced its worst locust plague yet in 2013. Climate change is also viewed as a current and future cause of world hunger. Changing climatic patterns across the globe require changes in crops and farming practices that will not be easy to adjust to.

5. Increasing refugee populations

Finally, the presence of refugees in a country adds to the growing pressure on already limited resources. This is the case in Chad, which has over 400,000 refugees from Sudan and the Central African Republic due to political instability and ethnic violence in those countries. Ethiopia is also home to refugees, but because of a different reason – the country continues to welcome refugees from Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia after the Horn of Africa drought.

— Rachel Reed
Sources: GCC, Global Citizen, U.N., WHES
Photo: Mirror

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

UN Mission in Burundi will Extend to End of Year

burundi
The Central African region has been receiving a lot of humanitarian attention this new year. Furthermore, while this area has been going through a lot of tumult in the past few months, South Sudan’s instability has been a major concern of the United States and other countries. However, though the situations such as these in larger countries highlight the troubles in the region, the tiny nation of Burundi has gotten a small amount of attention. The UN has, on the other hand, just announced that they will extend their mission in Burundi until the end of the year, the effort being done to guide the nation to safe elections in 2015.

The fact is, Burundi has come a long way in the past 20 years and is an example of the good work that international aid can do for ailing countries. For instance, in the early 1990s there were worries of genocide in Burundi as the violence in Rwanda threatened to spread to Burundi. In 1993, the President of the country was assassinated, resulting in “genocidal acts” taking place against the Tutsi ethnic group. While the violence did not reach the levels seen in Rwanda, ethnic violence was a problem until 2003, even after the ceasefire in 2000 between the government and rebel groups.

After it was clear that the 2000 ceasefire was not having the immediate effect the United Nations hoped, a mission was established in 2004 to bring stability to the nation. As a result, the United Nations Operation in Burundi (ONUB) was established in 2005  to end the violence in the region by sending out disarmament details and providing protection for those felt to be threatened by the violence. In 2006, the UN Office in Burundi (BNUB) was, furthermore, established to continue this work, as well as assisting with democratic administration and setting up the infrastructure for the government.

The mission has been seen as an overall success for the United Nations. Peace has held after a long period of fighting and the Burundi government had felt so confident that they thought the UN should leave by the summer. On the other hand, the UN Security Council felt differently, with the upcoming election serving as the impetus for their extended stay. In fact, a recent changeover in the government prompted some worries, yet Burundi’s ambassador to the United Nations maintained that “[t]he apparent differences between politicians in Burundi… are political exaggerations that are linked to the democratic learning process.”

The bigger worry for Burundi, however, is economic advancement. The nation routinely ranks low in economic development rankings, not a surprise given the disruption that such an extended period of violence brings to a nation. Furthermore, the recent floods in the area don’t look to make the situation much better in Burundi. The nation hopes that with this period of peace, an improved economy will follow.

The United Nations and Burundi both agree that their peacekeeping office should close up shop soon, with the current state of the region being seen as a success for BNUB. However, the troubled economy and the number of hungry citizens is still a major concern to the nation. As it stands, it may only take these conditions to plunge the country back into the violence the nation just got out of. The work that advocacy organizations do should concern emphasizing the need for continued attention in areas like Burundi, and though catastrophe may not be an issue, a further push in the right direction is key.

– Eric Gustafsson

Sources: UN, Reuters, Ref World, The World Bank
Photo: National Geographic

,

Village Health Works Rebuilds a Burundian Village

village_health_works_burundi
Burundi, a tiny east African nation and one of the world’s five poorest countries, is a landlocked state of 10 million and has witnessed a 12-year civil war that has left more than 300,000 casualties. For any global health organization, the country is an intimidating assignment. However, Seattle physicians Sachita Shah, Kris Sherwood, Joseph Alsberge and Harvard’s Dr. Paul Farmer, founder of Partners in Health, donate their time and medical expertise to Burundians through the nonprofit organization, Village Health Works.

More than 20 years ago, Village Health Works’ founder Deogratias Niyizonkia, fled from a gruesome massacre in a rural hospital in northern Burundi where he was a third-year medical student. Following his escape in 1994, Niyizonkiza fled to New York City, graduated from Columbia University and attended the Harvard School of Public Health. It was there that he met Dr. Farmer, and began working at the PIH in Burundi’s neighbor country, Rwanda. Shortly after, Niyizonkiza returned to Burundi and realized his dream of establishing a rural clinic in his native village of Kigutu in 2007.

The plundered nation of Burundi currently has fewer than 300 physicians and to combat that, shocking health statistics. Wasterborne diseases and lack of sanitation account for one in five deaths and more than 54 percent of children under five suffer from extreme malnutrition. The country also has one of the highest rates of child mortality in the world – nearly 180 out of every 1,000 do not make it to five years old – and the average life expectancy is 50 years old. Most of those deaths are due to infection including diarrheal disease, pneumonia and malaria.

However, Niyizonkiza, Farmer and their team are a blessing amongst all the hunger and disease. “Village Health Works was an idea in my mind for a long time,” said Niyizonkiza. “When I came to the United States, I left Burundi, but it never left my mind. One of those memories was mothers dying in childbirth.” Since its opening in 2007, Village Health Works has treated more than 70,000 patients. In 2012 alone, the clinic saw promising steps forward. It treated more than 22% more patients than the years before, saw a 221% rise in prenatal consultations and a 228% increase in voluntary HIV testing.

The mission that Village Health Works has set out on shows that even a small group can make a large impact. The clinic itself has drawn mass attention and for many outsiders, has put the country of Burundi on the map. The lives that have been saved and the health battles that have been fought are no small victory.

– Sonia Aviv

Sources: Cross Cut, Village Health Works, Wheelock College