Rwanda News

11 January 2016 - Massive influx of Burundians into south western Rwanda started around March 31st 2015 as a result of the on-going political crisis in that country. These refugees are accommodated in Mahama Camp in Kirehe District of Rwanda.

A salmonella Typhi outbreak was confirmed in the camp which has a refugee population of 44,965 in November 2015. UNHCR, Ministry of Health and other partners including WHO, UNICEF, ARC and SCF responded swiftly to curtail the spread of the disease among the population and surrounding communities.

The World Health Organization (WHO) Country Office in Rwanda committed to embracing change for even more effective delivery of results at the just ended staff retreat which was held in Rubavu, Rwanda from 3 to 6 February 2016.

11 February 2016 - Since late April 2015, nearly 234,606 Burundians fled to neighbouring countries as a result of the on-going political crisis in the country. As of 20th January 2016 Rwanda registered 71,881 refugees and a total 45,460 are hosted in Mahama camp in Kirehe District, Eastern Province.

The Ministry of Health of Rwanda organized from 29th to 31st March 2016, in Bugesera District,  a three day International Conference on health financing in collaboration with its partners including WHO.  The theme of the Conference was “Health financing reforms in the eve of sustainable development goals: a look at the past 15 years of health reform”.

Kigali, 18 April 2016 – On 04 April 2016, the Government of Rwanda with support from WHO and immunization partners made history as the first country in the African Region to introduce bivalent Oral Polio Vaccine (bOPV) in place of the trivalent Oral Polio Vaccine (tOPV) into the schedule of the routine immunization programme for all children under the age of one.

Rwanda organized its biannual Integrated Mother and Child Health Week from 26th to 29th April 2016. The Mother and Child week is organized twice a year and serves as an opportunity to scalehealth services provision, particularly to the hard-to-reach, the unreached and the most vulnerable populations. The Mother and Child Health Week was combined with the African Vaccination Week.

Rwanda celebrated World Health Day on 29th May 2016 in an event organized by the Ministry of Health/Rwanda Biomedical Center and its partners, including WHO, with the theme “Scale-Up Non-Communicable Diseases Prevention, Strengthen Care, and Enhance Surveillance”. The national theme for World Health Day aligns with the global theme, “Beat Diabetes”, with a call to address the broader non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

Kigali, 23rd August 2016 : The World Health Organization, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning of Rwanda, organized at Kigali, Rwanda, a two days workshop, from 23rd to 24thAugust 2016, on Tobacco Taxation  in the African Region.

On November 13th and 14th, the newly built Kigali Convention Center, lightened up the city in blue, the color of unity against diabetes.

Last Friday 24th March 2017 - Rwanda joined the World to celebrate World Tuberculosis day focusing on the young population in Kigali City. The Ministry of Health through Rwanda Biomedical Centre (RBC) with partners support, including WHO, has employed stringent ways that have caused a significant decline in Tuberculosis incidences in Rwanda.