Dr. Christian, Director of Kaziba General Hospital, and the Tumaini teams. Credit : Tumaini project.

The TUMAINI Health and Rights of Women, Adolescents and Children project supports the Panzi Foundation in its fight against sexual and gender-based violence. It supports the improvement of sexual and reproductive health and rights, towards the realization of human rights. It is implemented by the Unité de santé internationale and the Observatoire Hygeia of the Université de Montréal, with the Panzi Foundation, Lawyers Without Borders Canada and Global Strategies.

This vital mission brings Year 2 activities to a close and paves the way for Year 3. Several monitoring and training workshops were organized, including one on construction planning in South Kivu.

USI mobilized a team of several professionals - an architect, an engineer and a doctor specializing in hospital planning - to work with its implementing partner, the Panzi Foundation, on the final phase of the project's construction planning. Field visits and discussions with stakeholders helped refine the initial analysis of medical and infrastructure needs for each of the health zones (nature, purpose of buildings and medical mission). In all, eight buildings will be constructed in four zones of South Kivu:

1 - Kaziba health zone, in Walungu territory: construction of a 'One stop center' integrating medical and psychological consultation, legal clinic, individual and group meeting space for survivors of gender-based violence, administrative building and rehabilitation of a hospitalization unit.

2- Nundu health zone, in Fizi territory (Kabondozi): construction of a residence for healthcare staff - to encourage the deployment and retention of professionals in this hard-to-reach area; construction of a reproductive health unit incorporating prenatal and postnatal consultations, a delivery room, a neonatal care area and an operating theatre.

3 - Mwenga health zone, in the Mwenga territory: construction of an intensive care unit, a hospitalization unit and a psychological consultation clinic.

4 - Ibanda health zone, city of Bukavu, at the Panzi Foundation's main office: construction of the Panzi Foundation's training center, which will be the embodiment of the International Center for Research and Advanced Training (ICART), and will host ongoing training, knowledge transfer and operational research activities driven by the development needs of the Foundation and its collaborators.

Work is scheduled to start in autumn 2024, with delivery of the entire infrastructure for commissioning in autumn-winter 2025.

The Tumaini team mobilized to set up the Kaziba One Stop Center: contractors, managers, community mobilizers, architects, engineers and health specialists. Credit : Tumaini project