Claude Igirukwishaka is a married man and father of five children. He lives in a village in Ruyigi province, in Burundi, where AMU has been supporting a drinking water supply project for more than ten years together with the local partner CASOBU ( Water source of life and development in Ruyigi ). These are areas where getting sick is a big problem: it becomes almost impossible to get treatment due to the high costs of health care. And in fact, every time Claude or someone in his family needed to buy medicines prescribed by a doctor, the man was forced to sell something to cover these necessary expenses. The change came when Claude, and with him other families from the same community, learned of the existence of that part of the AMU project dedicated to the community health insurance. It was 2021, and Claude had attended an awareness meeting: “We understood how important it is to sign up for a mutual fund to be able to get treatment, if necessary, using insurance. Illnesses can knock at any time” . After that meeting, Claude signed up for the community health insurance, paying an admission fee and an annual fee. He was farsighted. This small action of his saved his life. Shortly after, the man became seriously ill. Without hesitation, he went straight to the hospital. The mutual fund card covered almost all the expenses he had to face for treatment . A staunch supporter of the need for a mutual health insurance, Claude’s commitment is now to raise awareness among other members of the community so that they too can join.
Burundi, the card that saved Claude
"Illnesses can knock at any time," says the father of five. When he himself fell ill, he was able to pay for essential care thanks to the health insurance provided by the AMU program.
