A health facility has been launched in Kigali as part of efforts to further professionalise health, immunisation and related commodity logistics management in the region.
A health facility has been launched in Kigali as part of efforts to further professionalise health, immunisation and related commodity logistics management in the region.
The East African Community (EAC) Regional Centre of Excellence for Vaccines, Immunisation and Health Supply Chain Management (RCESCM) is based at the University of Rwanda’s School of Public Health in Kicukiro District.
At the launch, the Minister for Health, Dr Agnes Binagwaho, said: "We welcome students from sister countries. This is one great way to move towards the one people, one destiny, which is the dream of each and everyone here.”
Noting that she was happy to celebrate the partnership that enabled the project to succeed, Dr Binagwaho said the pillar of good health is good education.
"This centre will bring a lot in terms of economic development. It is going to help in the procurement of everything, not only in health. We all know how much we lose in bad procurement,” the minister said.
Also in attendance were EAC Secretary General, Dr Richard Sezibera, and officials from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
The EAC is looking to address challenges of vaccine and other commodities supply chain management by addressing weaknesses in human resource capacity.
To achieve this, the bloc’s centre of excellence is just one of several projects the region has mulled in the health sector.
Others are the regional kidney institute, the regional heart institute, the regional cancer institute, regional nutritional sciences institute, and the regional e-Health and biomedical engineering institute to be hosted by Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda, respectively.
Sezibera said there is evidence to show that to reach the Community’s children with requisite vaccines, requires a robust and innovative supply chain that embraces the latest technologies is of essence.
"This centre will not only train a cadre of health supply chain managers. It will also continue to harness best practices, pursue innovative supply chain spaces, both in the public and private sectors, and continue to bring in the private sector to participate.”
Also present were representatives of KfW, a German public development bank that injected an initial funding – for the first three years – of Euro 10 million in the project.
Dr Klaus Mueller, director at KfW, pointed to human resource development as among the key dimensions of the project.
"I think it is a key element of creating a regional identity. We are very proud that the idea of this regional centre was born at a workshop in 2013 that was financed through German support, through KfW,” Mueller said.
When EAC immunisation and vaccines partners met in Arusha, Tanzania, in September 2013, the challenges noted in implementing the scale up programmes for vaccine included: cold chain management due to inadequate infrastructure (storage capacity) and cold chain equipment; human capital to implement the programme; and low immunisation in remote areas; and a need for proper monitoring and evaluation and data synchronisation within vaccine programmes.
It was the first EAC immunisation and vaccines partners’ meeting.
At the time, KwF and GAVI identified a need for global and regional coordination mechanisms to scale up immunisation inventions and to engage the countries for maximum benefit of the programs.
The duo also noted a limitation of resources for implementation.
The September 2013 meeting, among other things, called for the increased role and participation of African Regional Economic Communities to promote and support acceleration of immunisation programmes in Africa.
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