Rwanda News

Ministers of Health from the East African Community Countries (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda) and delegates gathered from 11 to 13 September, 2012, at the Serena Hotel in Kigali, Rwanda, for the Regional Conference on Social Health Protection in the East African Community (EAC) .

The second Mother and Child Health Week 2012 edition has been organized from 16 to 18 October 2012. The official ceremony at national level took place in Karongi District, Western Province. The Guest of honor of this ceremony was the Minister of Health. The United Nations Agencies and other Health Partners have been actively involved in all activities relating to organization and celebration of the Week. The theme of the Week was: “Handwashing with soap is more than just a day.”

As part of its ongoing efforts to prevent measles and rubella, Rwandan health workers will vaccinate nearly five million children between the ages of 9 months and 14 years during the four-day measles-rubella vaccination campaign, which begins today in a village outside Kigali. In addition, girls attending school in Primary 6 and Secondary 3 grades will also receive their first doses of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to protect them against the leading cause of cervical cancer.

« Second hand smoke kills »

Rwanda has celebrated the World No Tobacco Day on 14 June 2013. The theme worldwide was "Ban to Tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship". In Rwanda, the theme has been adapted to the current priority in fighting against tobacco, which is "Second Hand Smoke Kills".

Activities along the previous week to the celebration day were oriented to sensitization activities reminding communities to not smoke in public places and closed areas. The messages were conveyed to general public but especially to young people.

On 16th January 2014, Rwanda officially launched a six-month national campaign to improve personal, domestic and public places hygiene. The ceremony took place at a Primary School in Nkombo Island, in Rusizi District, in Western Province. The technical and financial part for the launching has been supported by WHO and UNICEF among others.

On Tuesday 11th March 2014, Maternal and Child Health Week Rwanda was launched in Gisagara district. Rwanda is a high performing country on track to reach MDG 4 and 5. This progress made can be attributed to a combination of strategies employed to strengthen the Rwandan health system and make quality of services accessible to a wide population.

Monday 24th March 2014 was world TB Day. World TB Day was designed to commemorate the discovery of the TB causing bacteria, tuberculosis bacillus by Dr. Robert Koch in 1882. Currently, TB is still endemic in many nations around the world and affects 9 million people each year, and kills 1.3 million annually.

On Saturday 8th March, the world marked International Women’s Day and celebrated the progress made by women globally, whilst illuminating the progress that still has to be made to guarantee equity for women. This year, the global theme for international Women’s day was: ‘equality for women, is progress for all’.

Rwanda has organized from 07th to 09th October the Integrated Mother and Child Health Week for the second time this year. The first week was organized in March 2014. The launching ceremony took place in Musanze District, Northern Province on 07th October. The launching of the Week coincided with the launching of the 12+ Program targeting young girls between 10 and 12 years. The Guest of Honour of this ceremony was the Minister of State in charge of Public Health and Primary Health Care. Among other guests were the Executive Secretary of Northern Province, and the Mayor of Musanze District.

Rwanda has celebrated the World Health Day on 10th October 2014. The theme of this year was « Living a healthy life with Schizophrenia ». The theme has been adapted at country level and put into national context. Also sensitization activities on mental health have been conducted country wide during the entire month of October by the national Mental Health Programme, Rwanda Biomedical Center, Ministry of Health with support of its various NGOs partners.