On Monday, 15 October 2012, the US Government’s Global AIDS Coordinator, Ambassador Eric Goosby, launched the Rwanda Human Resources for Health (HRH) programme, a seven-year partnership with the Government of Rwanda; the United States Government; The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria; and 14 US medical, nursing and public health schools.
According to the New York Times, these stakeholders have collectively committed $152 million to the seven-year programme.
The HRH programme marks a new step in foreign assistance that targets long-term sustainability of global development initiatives. The programme will bring nearly 100 US faculty members and their families to Rwanda each year for the duration of the programme.
The HRH programme encompasses a partnership with American institutions through 2019 to ensure that Rwanda’s health sciences education system produces the quality and quantity of health professionals and medical faculty necessary to serve the country’s population of 11 million and to guarantee a sufficient supply in the future.
The number of Americans will decline over time as newly trained Rwandan faculty members assume teaching and mentorship roles.
Rwanda has made dramatic progress towards reducing mortality from HIV and tuberculosis between 2000 and 2009 observing a 78% decline as well as a steep 70% decline in child mortality between 2000 and 2011. The country’s decentralised health care delivery system, universal community-based health insurance, performance based financing scheme for health facilities, and network of 45,000 community health workers have largely succeeded in controlling infectious diseases.
But Rwanda has reached a ceiling of service delivery given current local health professional expertise. As a result of increasing life expectancy (from 28 years in 1995 to 55 years in 2010) as well as longer survival of people living with HIV, chronic non-communicable diseases that require specialised care are accounting for a larger share of Rwanda’s burden of disease.
The HRH Program seeks to systematically address these issues by increasing the quality of medical and nursing education to raise the ceiling of service delivery capacity in Rwanda.
In line with the Government of Rwanda’s drive for equitable economic development, the HRH programme will address the critical human resources shortage in Rwanda by developing a world-class health care system that equitably distributes highly-skilled health professionals in the country.
Speaking at the launch ceremony in Kigali, Ambassador Goosby cited that the HRH is a mutual respectable and transparent partnership, adding that, “this country led coordinated effort responds to the country’s priorities hence meeting the needs of the population.”
The Honorable Minister of Health, Dr. Agnes Binagwaho also said that, “The US Government and US academic institutions participating in the HRH programme have made an unprecedented commitment to global health.”
“Through this revolutionary programme, Rwanda will be able to develop a self sustaining robust health care system independent of foreign aid.”
At the end of the program, it is expected that Rwanda will have very high quality medical services that will significantly improve health care for all citizens.
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