Burundi

Focus areas include the new treatment modalities of rapid Test & Start roll-out support pharmaceutical supply chain management assessments, and defining an optimal differentiated model of ART delivery with a focus on multi-month scripting and dispensing at facility and community level. Ongoing strategies and technologies are being developed to produce more efficient increases in HIV testing, higher numbers being initiated on ART, long-term retention on ART and viral load suppression in both children and adults being EQUIP’s measurement of success.EQUIP provides innovative approaches that support the rapid scale-up of viral load monitoring. A demonstration project is also underway in Burundi to test the viability of introducing HIV self-testing.

Burundi is a small landlocked country (27,830 sq.km) which is one of the five poorest countries in the world. Nearly 64.9% of the population live below the poverty line. Burundi remains one of the least developed countries in the world with alarming levels of hunger and malnutrition. According to the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization, more than 40 percent of Burundi’s population is facing chronic or acute food insecurity, including 2.3 million who are severely food insecure. This is exacerbated by an economic crisis, which was triggered by the political crisis of 2015. Burundi’s health system suffers from a lack of adequate infrastructure and human resources to meet urgent community health needs.