Burundi, the second most densely populated country in Africa, is one of the five poorest countries in the world with almost 65% of its population living below the poverty line.
Public health is a real cause for concern and marked by the predominance of many diseases – both infectious and non-infectious. Healthcare has to be paid for, and only formal public sector workers and a small number of private workers (less than 1% of the population) are covered by health insurance. The rest of the population has to pay for healthcare out of their own pockets.
Safe drinking water is essential for good health but access to safe water sources is still difficult and impossible for a large part of the population.
Ecological, controlled latrines are beyond most people’s reach. Instead their only option is a traditional latrine or an open pit.
For more than 10 years, AMU in collaboration with CASOBU has been supporting projects to supply safe drinking water to several villages in Ruyigi Province.
The project is aiming to extend the existing supply network to all communities in this area and in the hills of Nombe, Nyarunazi and Kigamba/Rubaragaza.
In parallel, the drinking water supply network in Karaba-Misugi-Kigamba will be renovated.
Like all AMU projects, construction work and work to maintain the infrastructure and manage the water supply will involve local people and local authorities directly.
The project also includes the construction of eco-sustainable latrines for a number of families in the community and the primary school in Nombe and hopes to develop new community microcredit groups and strengthen existing groups.
In order to address the challenges connected with access to healthcare, the project aims to raise awareness and help beneficiaries to set up a mutual health insurance scheme for the community or connect them with existing community health insurance schemes to respond to the current difficulties relating to access to healthcare.
Activities planned:
- The construction of three new extensions to the drinking water supply network towards Nombe hill for families and students at Nombe school, on Kigamba Hill to reach members of the Batwa community, towards Nyarunazi hill for local families and Nyarunazi primary school (ECOFO NYARUNAZI).
- The renovation of the Karaba-Misugi-Kigamba drinking water supply network
- The construction of 40 ecological latrines for Rubaragaza, Nombe, Kigamba and Nyarunazi hills and 2 for Nombe primary school;
- Training, raising awareness and organising those who will direct benefit from the project, the Municipal Water Authority, the project’s staff and community leaders to manage this common good.
- Training and post-training accompaniment of Community Microcredit groups
- Training and post-training accompaniment of families to become members of the community mutual health insurance schemes;
- Raising people’s awareness about the battle against diseases transmitted by not washing hands, poor personal hygiene and the contexts in which people live
The project was realized with the contribution of C.E.I. – Italian Episcopal Conference of € 233,960.00