The University of Rwanda (UR)’s College of Medicine and Health Sciences hosted a two-day international conference aimed at promoting nursing and midwifery education and research.

The conference, that began yesterday, is the first of its kind to be hosted by UR. It attracted Nursing and Midwifery leaders and supporters from Africa and the United States.

The Minister for Health, Dr Agnes Binagwaho, while speaking during the conference, appealed to the nurses to serve as a link between doctors and patients in their service provision. She challenged the organisers of the conference to come up with innovative strategies on how patient rights can be upheld.

Dr Binagwaho said nurses and midwives constitute a backbone of the nation’s sustainability and urged them to align innovations in their professions with delivering better health care for the people.

"The ministry is in the process of requesting educators with a medical background to dedicate at least 20 per cent of their workload to training other medical personnel. We are also encouraging the Ministry of Health staff to enroll for courses in the College of Medicine and Health Sciences,” she said.

Dr Donatilla Mukamana, the Dean School of Nursing and Midwifery in the College of Medicine and Health Sciences, UR, is optimistic about the future of Rwanda’s health sector.

"We care much about our citizens but, most importantly, their knowledge. If you have the necessary knowledge, even with limited resources, you find ways of developing. All we need is to invest more in research and innovation so that we can find solutions to local challeges,” she added.

Dr Marie Claire Gasanganwa, the college’s vice dean, shed light on the current situation of the midwifery and nursing profession in the country.

"Last year we had 9,000 nurses serving over 11 million people in the country. In terms of education, curriculum challenges are still evident; most nurses have A0, meaning many of our nurses need to go for AO, upgrading,” Dr Gasanganwa said.

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