Helping street children
Since 1999, MSF has been providing
medical care and psychological assistance
to street children in the capital,
Ouagadougou. MSF is also involved in
advocacy efforts toward the public to
fight the discrimination they face, and
has held informational sessions on their
predicament in communities, schools
and at the national police academy.
Today, this program reaches approximately
900 young children and 140 teenage
girls.
A new project launched in 2005 has
reached 500 teenage sex workers who
operate outside of the city's official prostitution
network and lack access to medical
care. MSF offers assistance to these
girls and treats victims of sexual violence.
MSF has also organized meetings to raise
awareness about health issues related to
prostitution and has trained local health
groups to treat girls with sexually transmitted
infections.
MSF runs a project to improve the quality
and duration of life for some HIV-positive
people living in Ouagadougou's Pissy
health district. In 2004, MSF tested and
counseled almost 6,000 people among
whom 20 percent were found to be living
with the virus. At the local hospital, MSF
provided medical care for more than
14,000 patients with opportunistic infections.
In April 2003, MSF started providing
life-extending antiretroviral (ARV)
treatment as well, and by mid-2005, the
organization was providing ARVs to 1,400
patients. MSF plans to be treating 2,000
patients with ARVs by the end of 2005.
In Leraba province, MSF continues to provide
basic health care, including maternal
and child care through a network of seven
health centers in the Sindou district.
MSF has worked in Burkina Faso since 1995.
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