Editor,

RE: "Senators want Mutuelle de Santé to cover chronic diseases” (The New Times, April 30).

This is a very good step toward finding a solution. The senators’ support will go a long way in ensuring that authorities go out of their way to find a lasting solution to the Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) burden.

NCDs are very high on the global health agenda, and international agencies as well as private companies may want to partner with Rwanda to tackle some of these expensive treatments and create best-practice models on the continent.

Some NCD treatments may not be too expensive and could be rolled out to all health centers with fairly simple diagnostics and treatment. Detecting and treating these diseases early enough will help cut attendant costs, for instance on dialysis (diabetes, hypertension, etc).

Rwanda has succeeded on many fronts before and can do it with regard to NCDs as well.

Djo