BUJUMBURA April 11th (ABP) – The day after the celebration of World Health Day on April 7th, the chairman of the organization “Words and Actions for Awakening Consciousness and Changing Mentalities (PARCEM), Mr. Faustin Ndikumana, held on Monday in Bujumbura, a press briefing during which he made a critical analysis on the health situation in the country. The analysis centered on the vision “a healthy people is a factor of economic development and welfare”.
Indeed, PARCEM finds that the health situation is not good. The number of cases of epidemic diseases including malaria, diarrheal diseases, respiratory infections, diabetes, tuberculosis, HIV / AIDS, high blood pressure and mental illnesses remains high. The causes of the deterioration of public health in Burundi are manifold. It has been noted that, for example, if an infection attacks a weak organism, the morbidity increases. Now, Ndikumana notes, “Burundi has a 40% hunger index that ranks among the highest in the world. The content of the calorie diet remains low with an average of 1,600 calories, while it should be 2,000 calories. The rate of malnutrition is still high (58%).
Hygiene and sanitation problems persist, poverty causes stress that causes in turn several chronic diseases, he adds. Climate change is also a cause of public health problems.
According to the PARCEM chairman, “in a country with a high population growth like Burundi, the implementation of a substantial investment plan is a necessity. This plan would put in place a sufficient number of health centers, medical staff and districts in order to monitor the increase in population. This would keep the stability of internationally accepted standard figures. ”
Currently, says PARCEM, “the country has a single doctor for 20,000 or 30,000 inhabitants, while international standards provide for one doctor per 10,000 inhabitants. In terms of nursing needs per health center, there are sometimes health centers with three or four nurses, while six are needed.
Also, biomedical materials and drugs are very expensive and remain insufficient in some health care facilities. Patients are forced to sell their capital or to go into debt to cover their health care, especially since the health insurance system is not accepted in the autonomous health facilities because of the backlog of unpaid bills. Even the Public Service Mutual does not cover some medical services “.
Faced with all these problems, PARCEM recommends the mobilization of funds as well as good administrative and management governance. Since the Ministry of Public Health is a technical Ministry, Mr Ndikumana calls on it to recruit the competent officials. He also recommends that the government curb corruption that is starting to be noticed in the health sector.
