THE US Agency for International Development (Usaid) has appointed George E. Lewis as Acting Director of its programmes in Rwanda.

Usaid works with the government to implement programmes on health, including HIV/Aids and malaria; democracy and governance and rural economic growth.

Lewis who served as Director of Usaid-Rwanda from 1996-1999 will lead the agency on an interim basis for the next several months, Communication Officer David Kampf, said on Tuesday. The outgoing Director, Kevin J. Mullally, has been posted to Senegal.

Lewis, a former senior Foreign Service officer, has a vast experience after 30 years of international development and management in North and Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and Latin America. 

He remarked that Rwanda has dramatically changed since he first arrived as agency director in 1996. The country, he said, has registered impressive economic growth and improved overall in healthcare.

"It is a privilege to work with the government of Rwanda on its goals set in Vision 2020 and the Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction Strategy,” he said.

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