A Global Call to Action: Research and Innovation for Burundi’s Elders

Across the world, populations are aging at an unprecedented rate. In many countries, this shift has prompted investments in health, social protection, and policy frameworks to ensure dignity in old age. Yet in Burundi, one of East Africa’s poorest nations, the situation for the elderly remains precarious.

Many older adults in Burundi face multiple vulnerabilities: extreme poverty, limited access to healthcare, inadequate nutrition, and social isolation. In urban centers like Bujumbura, some seniors are even forced to resort to street begging as a survival mechanism. This reality raises urgent questions about how societies can better protect and empower those who have contributed so much throughout their lives.

It is within this challenging context that Burundi Elderly Home Care (BEHC) was founded in 2020 by Mr. Rubashamuheto Jesus-Marie, later joined by Co-founder Nimbona Alida, and officially licensed in 2025. Based in Bujumbura, the organization is dedicated to improving the welfare of elderly people through interventions such as:

• Nutritional support – providing daily meals for seniors facing food insecurity.
• Health care assistance – ensuring access to medication, medical referrals, and basic treatment.
• Home visits and outreach – combating loneliness and offering psychosocial support.
• Shelter initiatives – creating safe spaces for elderly people in crisis situations.

While these interventions have provided vital relief, the complexity of elderly care in low-income contexts requires more than local efforts. Evidence-based strategies, innovative models, and cross-border knowledge-sharing are essential for sustainable solutions.

That is why Burundi Elderly Home Care is extending a global call to researchers, academics, and practitioners specializing in gerontology, social policy, community health, and aging studies. Collaboration can take many forms: joint research projects, comparative studies, policy analysis, or pilot interventions that can later be scaled up nationally.

By partnering with BEHC, researchers have the opportunity not only to contribute to the body of global knowledge on aging in developing countries but also to make a tangible difference in the lives of some of the most vulnerable elderly populations in East Africa.

The time to act is now. Together, we can ensure that old age in Burundi is not marked by despair, but by dignity, care, and respect.