Kigali, 15 October 2012
President Kagame today received Ambassador Amb. Eric Goosby, US Global AIDs Coordinator who is in the country to officially launch the Human Resource in Health initiative. This innovative program is aimed at increasing the quality and quantity of health workers through a collaborative partnership with some of the best US schools. Nearly 100 US faculty members in various medical fields will be coming to Rwanda for one-year placements for a period of seven consecutive years.
Ambassador Goosby said the initiative aims to develop a system that will strengthen healthcare in Rwanda providing skills to medical practitioners:
“Our discussions with the President looked at sustainability and accountability of the program. We are going to work together with the Government of Rwanda to identify areas where support can make the biggest impact. This initiative has the support of various stakeholders including the US Government, the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) and other governments like Belgium.”
The Minister of Education, Dr. Vincent Biruta said President Kagame emphasized the aspect of sustainability as well as accountability of the program, and pointed out that this initiative should also work as a model to other African nations so that they can also benefit.
The Minister of health, on her part, expressed optimism and said the initiative will increase capacities in Rwanda’s health sector three-fold:
“We have managed to achieve a lot of milestones but we are reaching our limit. This initiative will give the necessary skills that we need to tackle diseases by multiplying the capacities and quality of healthcare that we have right now.”