Medical Neglect

Each year, Burundi loses more than 35,000 under-five children due to preventable or curable diseases that include mainly the three worst killers: malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea (3). Many of such deaths are due to the delay by parents, relatives or caregivers to seek healthcare even from Community Health Workers found in their neighbourhoods or at health centre. The average distance to health centre in Burundi is 5 km. Though the government of Burundi is implementing a Free Healthcare Policy since 2006, a number of parents and caregivers still ignore to make use of that opportunity, let alone using their own resources when necessary to ensure adequate healthcare for their children which lead to deaths. World Vision technical programme baseline showed that more than 40% of children (0-59 months) are not consulted by an appropriate medical provider within 24 hours and treated for malaria as appropriate. In addition, part of household resources is used for alcoholism and witchcraft.

(3) The State of the World's Children 2016; A Fair Chance for Every Child