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Burkina Faso
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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