Malaria, malnutrition and MSF. Médecins Sans Frontières

This is a personal account of my brief time in Burundi as a volunteer doctor with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) at the beginning of 2001. Burundi is a small nation in central Africa (bounded by the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania) which has suffered from problems between the Hutu and Tutsi "ethnic groups", similar to those for which Rwanda is better known. Unlike Rwanda, the war between government troops and rebel forces continues in Burundi. MSF has been in Burundi since 1992, providing basic healthcare, nutrition programs, surgical services and epidemiological intervention. In late 2000, a malaria epidemic began in Burundi's highland regions where transmission is normally low, and thus the population largely not immune. Malnutrition rates also increased and MSF rapidly expanded its usual program in an attempt to control these new health problems.