BULENGO BRIEFING, DAY 11
The health situation continues to worsen in the camp of Bulengo. No toilets and lack of garbage garbage cans for waste disposal, lack of hygiene points, pregnant women do not sleep under mosquito nets, this is among other things the observation made this Friday, March 03, 2023. These phenomena can accentuate diseases related to hygiene and multiply the cases of malaria in this camp.
This is the tenth day since AGIR DRC has deployed the team of animators to pass the messages of the different themes as well as that of APS "Accompagnateur Psychosial Social" for listening and orientation in health structures for the needy. On Friday, this team carried out 11 listening sessions, including 10 women and one man, as well as 9 referrals, 6 to MSF and 3 to CBCA.
Among the women listened to during the previous days, there is Riziki, in her fifties. She had an accident 2 weeks ago and found herself in the camp with an oral problem. Having noticed her problem, the APS directed her to a health structure in the camp. But unfortunately, this one did not have a specialist of the dentition.
To remedy his case, the doctor Mitterrand Kazingufu of AGIR went to the site to examine him. After consultation, he noticed that there was a deformation of the lower dental arch which caused intense pain. The doctor gave the patient medication such as "Ibuprofen" and "Cloxasciline" to prevent infection and calm her pain while waiting for an X-ray of the face to be taken, to establish the diagnosis of a mandibular fracture and especially to see how far the damage had gone before taking care of it.
Doctor Mitterand also did a consultation of two pregnant women. The first one was 34 weeks pregnant. And had hypogastric abdominal problems. This one was referred to the CBCA hospital. The second woman also has a pregnancy of 34 weeks and 1 day. In her history of illness, a transverse presentation of the fetus. She was referred to the same medical facility for a probable cesarean section.
Faced with the health situation of the camp, doctor Mitterrand calls on organizations to intensify awareness. And to add that it is necessary to initiate advocacy to help this population in need and ask for government involvement in the prevention of diseases. To the population, this health care staff asks to respect the rules of hygiene to avoid certain diseases and to pregnant women to go to the nearest facilities.
For its part, the animation team continued to raise awareness on the fight against gender-based violence. If for some of the men we met, helping a woman in the household is a sign of cowardice and domination, some women believe that it is rather a sign of honor and respect.
Furaha Kalenga, a mother of seven children, says that a man is always valued in the family, whether he has money or not. Every morning," she says of her experience, "I go to get wood, carry goods and allow my children to eat. "Just because my husband doesn't bring anything home doesn't mean I should neglect him or cause him harm." She concludes.
