The Kigutu Hospital project is a state-of-the-art 150 bed teaching hospital in Burundi that will deliver vital care for women and children in one of the poorest nations in Africa is on course to open its doors this year.
The US$20m Kigutu Hospital and Women’s Health Pavilion is the latest phase in a project transforming the remote mountain village of Kigutu into a centre of community-driven health care and education that is being delivered by Village Health Works (VHW) and will bring high quality surgical capacity to rural Burundi.
The medical facility is now in the final stages of construction. When completed, it will provide essential and emergency obstetrics and surgical care.
FBW Group was involved as project manager and lead designer in the detailed design stages of the development and is proud to have played a part in the successful delivery of the project to date.
One in 23 women will die during pregnancy or childbirth in Burundi, where 80 per cent of the population lives on under $1 a day.
Once open, women will be able to give birth safely in a dignified environment, with access to immediate c-sections and other services to increase the safety of both mother and child.
The Kigutu Hospital and Women’s Health Pavilion will have seven delivery rooms, a prenatal and postnatal ward, a neonatal intensive care unit, nursery, general and malnutrition wards. It will also have an emergency room.
As well as saving lives and reducing needless suffering the facility will provide an excellent training and education environment for Burundian healthcare professionals, helping retain talent in the country.
Village Health Works is a New York-based non-profit organisation founded by Deogratias ‘Deo’ Niyizonkiza, an American citizen and medical doctor born in rural Burundi, who has become an inspirational voice in global health and international development.
Village Health Works has turned this area of Burundi into a bustling campus which serves a catchment area of 200,000 people.
The project began in 2005 when Deo travelled back to Burundi to establish VHW, with the goal of creating a healthcare system model in Kigutu.
Thanks to community-donated land, a small amount of seed money from American fellow students and supporters and the work of volunteers, the centre opened its doors to the community in December 2007.
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