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Rutshuru, a hospital in the middle of a never-ending conflict

MSF has been operating in North Kivu province’s Rutshuru territory since 2005. Several emergency projects have been deployed in this area providing the General Referral Hospital of Rutshuru with permanent support from 2005 to 2017, when a withdrawal of the services took place. However, tensions in the region continued and the lack of quality specialized resources prompted MSF to once again support Rutshuru's General Referral Hospital from late 2018 onwards. This assistance is provided in parallel with its support to the health zones of Bambo and Kibirizi since the end of 2017 and the end of May 2018, respectively. Zones heavily affected by armed conflicts and internal displaced movements of people.

The humanitarian situation in Rutshuru territory is extremely fragile, with recurring violence mainly related to the activities of armed opposition groups and inter-ethnic problems. During the last three years hundreds of families have been displaced in the Bwito’s zone fleeing the fighting and, therefore, the needs in terms of humanitarian assistance remain crucial whilst only few actors are present in the area.

In Rutshuru, MSF supports three hospitals and five health facilities in services such as emergencies, pediatric nutrition, intensive care and surgery. MSF’s activities aim to provide care to the direct and indirect victims of the conflict. From January to June 2019, a total of 245 cases of victims of sexual violence were taken into custody and 778 victims of violent trauma were treated.

Only in the first half of 2019, MSF teams assisted in the management of more than 1,400 cases of malnutrition and 1,857 surgeries in the Rutshuru General Referral Hospital. Whilst in Bambo and Kibirizi, MSF supports the pediatric unit with a focus on nutrition cases, emergency services and primary care from 0 to 15 years.

On the other hand, the referral service of the Rutshuru’s Hospital is supervised by MSF medical staff and supported by the donation of two ambulances.

MSFSTO33698

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