HUMANS

In Burundi, a small country with about 10 million inhabitants, healthcare services are limited due to the lack of doctors and absence of adequate medical equipment. Most of Burundian doctors prefer to work in a foreign country, where salaries are much higher and politics are stable.

Every year almost 4000 women die during delivery and around 750 women get injured with a fistula as a result of a delivery. Next to maternal mortality, also the mortality of children under 5 years is amongst the highest in the world mainly due to malaria, malnutrition and diarrheal infections.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) runs a maternity hospital in Kabezi, a small town about 30 minutes drive from the capital Bujumbura and supports several health centres in the area.

I felt privileged to follow MSF midwife Ann Van Haver on some of her rounds and document the activities. Although there was no opportunity to photograph a delivery while I was with her, I’m sure when you’re brought into this world by Ann, you’ll carry her love for the rest of your life.

 

Burundi, 2010

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