Health care centre for children - Burundi.
The Secretary of State has announced a review of the DFID Bilateral Aid Programme. The information on this page reflects current activity and is not an indication of the direction or possible outcome of the review.
Since gaining independence from Belgium in 1962, small, land-locked Burundi has suffered long periods of ethnic conflict. More than half a million people were killed and many more fled to neighbouring countries. Poverty worsened, incomes shrank, inequality widened and the government's ability to deliver basic services, particularly in health and education, was almost completely destroyed.
Burundi has been classified by the World Bank as the fourth least-developed country in the world. Its government faces huge problems but, following elections in 2005, has made a good start.