Established as a mission of the Free Methodist Church of Burundi in the 40’s, Kibuye Hope Hospital (KHH) is now in the care of Hope Africa University. KHH aims to serve the community around it and has already been designated as a regional medical center. It is also the main training hospital for Hope Africa University’s medical program, and is the hospital of reference for 12 rural clinics. The hospital is currently small, with only 85 beds, but planned development will expand it to 300 beds with life saving modern technology over the next ten years.
Although the hospital deals with everything from cancer to dementia, Burundi’s most pressing health issue is a lack of basic care. Burundi currently has 300 doctors for a population just over ten million. That’s less than one doctor for every 30,000 people! This would be a desperate situation in the best of circumstances. Unfortunately, Burundi also struggles with one of the world’s highest rates of hunger and malnutrition and the medical complications that go along with it, as well as malaria and AIDS. To mitigate the complications of malnutrition the associated BUSOMA ministry provides an affordable, healthy grain mix, giving patients in the hospital access to a nutrient rich cereal. This is especially vital for vulnerable newborns and their mothers, as well as the many children cared for in the pediatrics ward.
KHH is serving nearly a tenth of Burundi’s area, providing needed emergency, primary and specialized medical care. To serve these people Kibuye Hope Hospital has an excellent staff of Burundian doctors, some even trained in HAU’s medical school, as well as dedicated specialists and visiting professionals. In addition to helping patients that come to Kibuye, doctors teach the medical students that come from HAU. As the hospital grows it will be able to serve more people, more effectively. The medical school will also benefit, as the students get more hands on experience with advanced procedures and equipment. Not only will more people in the community have access to quality medical care, more people will be trained to bring quality medical care to the rest of Burundi.
To help with that training the hospital staff was joined by the McCropders. In 2013 the McCropders, a group of five families, with six medical specialists, relocated their growing families to Burundi to serve the HAU medical students. Their additional help and knowledge are invaluable both to the patents in the hospital and the medical students whom they disciple. The McCropders are committed to making the medical program at HAU a self-sustaining source of high quality medical professionals.
Kibuye Hope Hospital exists to show God’s love, to treat the ill and injured and to raise up the next generation of medical professionals who can reach further into the community and do the same, one person at a time. Hope Africa University is committed with KHH to achieve this goal, even as the hospital expands its facilities.
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