Since the outbreak following the earthquake in 2010, St. Boniface Hospital had been treating patients with cholera in a shaded section of the campus inside large tents. This area, known as the infectious disease area, also provided several tents dedicated to patients with tuberculosis.
These tents kept highly infectious patients quarantined from the rest of the hospital, but the solution had obvious challenges for hygiene, infection control, and quality of patient care. But before a patient even sets foot inside one of these tents - they likely passed through the first point of entry for any seriously ill person - The Emergency Department, greatly raising the risk for transmission through the rest of the hospital.

With funding from a USAID American Schools and Hospitals Abroad grant, St. Boniface Hospital partnered with Build Health International to design and build an Center for Infectious Disease and Emergency Care - CIDEC. However, St. Boniface’s community health workers were so successful in the hospital’s catchment area that cholera was all but eradicated. At the last minute the facility was redesigned into an Emergency Department and the previous ED was transformed into an improved pediatrics ward. With this spirit of adaptability in mind, BHI altered the design to be flexible for future use, for example using metal stud and drywall rather than cement block. Completed in February of 2018, the CIDEC features an isolation ward, a 25 bed emergency room, exam and testing facilities, and a pressurized HVAC system to improve infection control.