Category: Health

{{The Rwandan health sector is slated to gain from skilled Rwandan Diaspora. This follows a meeting held in Johannesburg South Africa intended to bring together all Rwandan Diaspora in the Health sector in order to look at possibility of providing their expertise to the Rwandan health sector.}}

The International Organization for Migration (IOM), in close collaboration with the High Commission of Rwanda in South Africa and the Rwandan Diaspora Global Network (RDGN), on 3rd March 2012, held a meeting with Rwandan Health Professionals on Migration for Development in Africa (MIDA) at Monte casino Conference Centre in Johannesburg, RSA.

During the meeting, different presentations were made. Amongst the key speakers were Mr. Jo Rispoli, Regional thematic specialist from IOM Pretoria, who presented on IOM-MIDA program and approach.

In his presentation, he talked about the effect of brain-drain in Africa and the need of the Diaspora to use their expertise for the development of African countries. His presentation was illustrated by case study of the Diaspora from Ghana.

Joan Matabaro, an official from Rwanda’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, presented on the objectives of Migration for Development in Africa (MIDA) Health Rwanda project while Aimable Rwamucyo from RDGN presented on logistical arrangements for Health professionals intending to give out the knowledge.

Both emphasized on the will of the Government of Rwanda to benefit from the knowledge of the Rwandan diaspora and the established mechanism to facilitate that.

In his presentation, Dr Musabeyezu Emmanuel from Rwanda Biomedical Center listed priority needs of the health sector in Rwanda. He highlighted the lack of sufficient specialized medical doctors and the needed support from Rwandan diaspora.

On behalf of Rwandan medical doctors in Southern Africa, Dr Denis Karangwa re-affirmed the will of Rwandan health professionals to avail their expertise to Rwanda and called upon different stakeholders to look at logistical and administrative impediment to the project in order to speed the realization of the project.

In addition to the transfer of knowledge to Rwanda, he also called upon officials from Rwanda’s Ministry of Health to look at possibility to use modern technology such as tele-health (e-health) to give out their expertise from Southern Africa without travelling to Rwanda.

At the end of the workshop, the High Commission of Rwanda, OIM and RDGN agreed to set up a program during the course of the year 2012 that will see Rwandan health professionals in Rwanda to give out their expertise.

{{During the celebration of 9 year anniversary of International Centre for AIDS and Treatment Program (ICAP), Dr. Veronica Mugisha revealed that homosexuals have high chances of acquiring the HIV virus.}}

Mugisha said, “Apart from the usual way of making sexual relationships, gays or lesbians especially young people, are the first to be affected by HIV/AIDS.”

Dr.Wafaa El Sadr, the head of ICAP in the world said that their activities are not stopped. “We are not going to stop by here but we are going to emphasize on people practicing homosexuality for they are the one who are mostly bound with AIDS.”

Dr. Annita Asiimwe, the head of Rwanda Biomedical Centre confirmed that the Health Ministry has got the ability to take over. “For we have got ability, we have to send them to other places where they also need their help.”

The international Center of AIDS and Treatment Program (ICAP), has been working in Rwanda since 2002 from Columbia University in USA; by December this year, it expects to have helped 100.656 people taking antiretroviral drugs.

According to the research done in Rwanda, 4000 people, especially in prisons, are homosexuals and 15% of them are affected by HIV/AIDS virus.

Instead, 3,5% of people making sexual relationships in the usual way (man-woman) are only affected.

Apart from Rwanda, ICAP works also in other countries like Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique and South Africa and is sponsored by the United States of America (USA).

{{It is expected that by 2017, Rwanda will have a sufficient number of medical doctors that will be capable of relating to all proceedings related to health as well as be able to cure cancer.}}

On Friday, 17th February, the ministry of health received 45 university professors from the United States of America that will be residing in Rwanda for over seven years during which they will be training Rwandan doctors as well as students from various Rwandan universities.

Dr. Jean de Dieu Ngirabega, the doctor responsible for medical activities in the health ministry told IGIHE.com that without the collaboration of various partners the goal that Rwanda has set cannot be met.

The sort of teaching that is supposed to take place will require help from various renowned doctors and professionals of universities that have experience in dealing with treatments Rwandan doctors are seeking to learn.

Dr. Ngirabega also stated the importance of realizing that there are certain medical areas and treatments that require more than one specialist, for example in the attempt to find the cure for cancer, this will require different surgeons as well as medical treatments.

“Our country in 2017, Rwanda will have doctors specialised in all fields, these doctors just spent three days in discussions with the ministry of health on their work and workplaces. They will begin work in August current.

{{Kigali City Mayor Fidele Ndayisaba has said that dirt is now a taboo in the city and urged city dwellers to ensure the city is kept tidy all time.}}

Ndayisaba announced this on Wednesday 15th February 2012 while launching the Hygiene Month at Nyamirambo Regional stadium.

The Kigali city authority delegation lead by vice-mayors in charge of hygiene from three districts of the city visited hospitals and hotels within Gasabo district.

Hope Tumukunde, Kigali city vice-mayor in charge of social affairs said that they will use this month to visit all the institutions to encourage proper hygiene.

She said,“this month is for visits but after we shall go back to the visited institutions where we shall punish offenders.” She added that hygiene should become part of Rwandan culture and teach it to young children.

On 28th December 2012 the Health Ministry statistics showed that 80% of the treated diseases in Rwanda are from lack of hygiene.

{{Kibagabaga Hospital authorities in collaboration with Belgian Technical Cooperation (BTC) have announced plans to expand the hospital in order to improve their service delivery to the customers.}}

Dr. Christian Ntizimira, the head of the hospital, told IGIHE.com that all the problems are due to the unexpected big number of patients they treat.

He said, “Normally, Kibagabaga Hospital is supposed to receive 200 patients but nowadays the number has increased to almost three times.”

He added that the big number of patients they treat is due to the fact that Gasabo district is resided by 50% of the Kigali city population as a whole.

Dr. Christian Ntizimira together with Dr. Blaise Uhagaze, the head of BTC in Rwanda said that, in the expansion, they expect to build a house with many floors.

This comes after an excessive number of patients appear in the hospital compound as well as in sick rooms.

In toilets, there is a terribly bad smell as IGIHE.com noticed when it was visiting the hospital on Wednesday, the 15th February 2012.

Kibagabaga Hospital is located in Kimironko sector Gasabo district and is mostly attended by a big number of patients because of their appreciated service delivery.

{{Rwanda loses RWF32 billion annually due to poor sanitation. This revelation is contained in a study conducted by the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) on the ‘Economic Impact of Poor sanitation in Africa’.}}

It’s approximated that 7,200 Rwandans including 6,100 children under 5, die each year from diarrhoea nearly 90% of which is directly attributed to poor water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH).

The Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project aims at increasing availability of water supply, and sanitation services in rural areas in Rwanda.

Poor sanitation costs Rwanda 32 billion Rwandan Francs each year, equivalent to US$54 million, according to a desk study carried out by the Water and Sanitation Program. This sum is the equivalent of US$5 per person in Rwanda per year or 0.9% of the national GDP.

The study shows that only 4.6 million Rwandese use unsanitary or shared latrines and 0.3 million have no latrine at all and defecate in the open. Also the poorest quintile is 3 times more likely to practice open defection than the richest.

Open defecation costs Rwanda US$3.9 million per year – yet eliminating the practice would require less than 70,000 latrines to be built and used. US$0.8 million lost each year in Access Time:

It is also indicated in the study that each person practicing open defecation spends almost 2.5 days a year finding a private location to defecate leading to large economic losses.

This cost falls disproportionately on women as caregivers that may spend additional time accompanying young children the sick or elderly relatives. This cost is likely to be an underestimation as those without toilets, particularly women, will be obliged to find a private location for urination as well.

The study further reveals that US$51 million is lost each year due to Premature Death.

In addition poor sanitation is a contributing factor through its impact on malnutrition rates to other leading causes of child mortality including malaria, ALRI and measles.

The WSP study indicates that US$0.2 million is lost each year due to Productivity Losses whilst sick or accessing healthcare. This includes time absent from work or school due to diarrheal disease, seeking treatment from a health clinic or hospital, and time spent caring for children under 5years suffering from diarrhoea or other sanitation-attributable diseases.

Also US$1.9 million is spent each year on Health Care. Costs associated with health seeking behaviour include consultation, medication, transport and in some cases hospitalization that burden households and government spending.

Diarrheal diseases directly, and indirectly via malnutrition (and its consequences for other diseases such as respiratory infections and malaria) are all leading causes of morbidity.

Costs of poor sanitation are inequitably distributed with the highest economic burden falling disproportionately on the poorest.

The average cost associated with poor sanitation, constitutes a much greater proportion of a poor person’s income than that of a wealthier person. Access to sanitation alone demonstrates inequities; the poorest 20% of the population are 3 times more likely to practice open defecation than the wealthiest 20% of the population.

Therefore for the poorest, poverty is a double-edged sword – not only are they more likely to have poor sanitation but they have to pay proportionately more for the negative effects it has.

In efforts to resolve problems identified by Water and Sanitation Program, it is recommended to allocate higher investments to Sanitation, address bottlenecks in the service delivery pathway, Target investments to the poorest and elimination of open defecation.

{{Patients admitted at Kabgayi hospital aren’t contented with the service rendered to them at the hospital. This was revealed during commemoration of a global patient day at Kabgayi hospital.}}

Among the patients noted that the physiotherapy department hasn’t been operating for the past week. “Some of us don’t have wheel chairs for instance.”

However, Osée Sebatunzi, the director of Kabgayi hospital refuted the claims adding that services at the hospital had improved especially with the introduction of suggestion boxes.

“I personally make surprise visits to patients and ask them about their welfare and how they think about services provided to them,” he said.

Kabgayi hospital receives over 400 patients daily.it consists of a staff of 106 nurses and 16 physicians.

{{With over 16,000 families in Rwanda affected by malnutrition, the government has set strategies to eliminate malnutrition in a period of six months.}}

Medical experts say it takes at least 28 days for a malnourished child to regain his health.

The world has 143 million children under the age of five that are underweight due to malnutrition. One quarter of these live in Africa.

The biggest numbers of victims of malnutrition today are mostly women breast feeding, pregnant and children under the age of five.

Malnutrition is commonly among people suffering from mental retardation, low mortality rates of women in maternity and people having difficulties treating diseases such as HIV and Malaria.

The Prime Minister Pierre Damien Habumuremyi launched the national anti malnutrition campaign by distributing milk to children on the 29th January 2012.

Government officials argue that the problem in Rwanda is not the lack of food but the lack of proper distribution. Rural Rwandans have not grasped the knowledge of how they can live healthy through a well balanced diet.

Arthur Asiimwe, The director-general in charge of communication at the Rwanda Biomedical Center told IGIHE.com that the plan will involve regular procurement of nutrition commodities and identification of undernourished women both pregnant and breast feeding and all children under the age of five.

The “Akarima K’Igikoni” which is an established vegetable garden will be promoted as well as the provision of cows to households with extreme malnourished children in districts that have the highest level of malnutrition.

“Organized trained staff will go to different rural areas where women will be taught how to cook healthy meals with foods such as sweet potatoes, soya, groundnuts, mushrooms, and other micronutrient foods making a balanced diet needed and we will also teach people poultry farming.”

“Adequate nutrition and food are essential for the physical, mental and emotional development of children as well as adults for food is a universal right” said Asiimwe.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health Dr Uzziel Ndagijimana recently told press that malnutrition is still a big problem to the development of the country. “The country is progressing in various domains but malnutrition is still a serious challenge.”

{{The concept has roots in Buddhist teachings. Just as there are forms of meditation that involve sitting, breathing, standing and walking, many Buddhist teachers encourage their students to meditate with food, expanding consciousness by paying close attention to the sensation and purpose of each morsel.}}

Continue this way throughout the course of a meal, and you’ll experience the third-eye-opening pleasures of a practice known as mindful eating. It really doesn’t matter what the food is, but make it something you love let’s just say it’s that first nibble from your favorite, hot, fragrant dish.

With most people shoving the food in their mouths even before it’s put down, this is where the hard part comes.Put the fork DOWN! For most people who have had the first bite, the second is inevitable, and we all know what happens after that.

The point of this exercise is to get people, especially children to masticate their food properly. Not only is this healthy, relieve stress and sheds many of the neuroses that we’ve come to associate with food, but it is also about experiencing food more intensely, especially the pleasure of it.

The last few years have brought a stack of books, blogs and videos about hyper-conscious eating. Which many also call mindful eating, which is passionately encouraging corporations and health care providers to try it and such experiments of the mouth and mind have begun to seep into universities across the globe.

In Rwanda in many homes eating is more of a necessity than an enjoyment; people are forced to swallow the foods whole due to lack of time or space in restaurants. School children are forced to eat quickly so then can have time to play before recess has ended. Meals have become and an all eating and no thinking.

Dr. Jan Chozen Bays, a pediatrician and meditation teacher in Oregon and the author of Mindful Eating: A guide to rediscovering a healthy and joyful relationship with food says “I think the fundamental problem is that we go unconscious when we eat.”

Life is becoming faster and faster, and so is everything we do, our awareness and ability to check ourselves has become something the doctors are doing, but what of our selves. Are we not to stop and ask yourself if what your eating is healthy, well cooked, or simply food for comfort? Which is how many of our children are increasing in the obesity levels.

The question shouldn’t be what the foods to eat are, in your mind but what is on your mind when you’re eating.

The point of the exercise is simply to eat, as opposed to eating and talking, eating and watching TV, or eating and watching TV and gossiping on the phone while tweeting and updating one’s Face book status, instead for 10 or 20 minutes you hold musing on, holding and patiently masticating, in keeping with a key principle of mindful eating.

Self-help gurus like Oprah Winfrey have become cheerleaders of this eating exercise, where a whole hour is dedicated to masticating, enjoying and holding the tastes of the foods they eat.

So should you be eating while reading this article please, don’t stop reading, finish reading and with all the food for thought we have given you, switch off your phone, log off your facebook page, wish whomever you are eating with “Bon Appétit” and then take your food seriously.

{{Three restaurants have been closed down due to poor hygiene in their kitchens.}}

A delegation comprising of officials from Ministry of Health, National Police and City council surveyed restaurants and hotels around the city assessing whether they were operating under standard health requirements.

During the survey three restaurants including; Virunga restaurant at the MTN complex, Dolphin, and Car wash were shut down.

It was established during the survey that restaurants which seemed clean and chic on the outside were actually unclean inside.

Alphonsine Mukamunana of the ministry of health led the delegation conduting the survey to inspect various restaurants and their employees.

Dolphin restaurant was closed down, Fabrice Niyongere promised to try and keep his kitchen clean and up to standards.

The ministry of health is expected to meet all restaurants and hotel owners to discuss issues concerning the precautions and rules to be followed by all restaurants subject to the existing laws.