One area that Rwanda has greatly improved in the last two decades has been healthcare, especially in the areas of child and maternal mortality and HIV.

Most of the success was brought about by innovative health measures such as increasing the numbers of healthcare workers in far-flung locations and health facilities. In short, it brought healthcare closer to the people.

But all those achievements would not have been possible without thinking outside the box. At a time when even some large economies struggle to apply universal health coverage, Rwanda came up with a simple but practical health insurance scheme, Mutuelle de Sante.

Now it has turned attention to increasing the tempo in HIV testing with the introduction of Oral HIV testing kit that gives out colour-coded results in less than 20 minutes. This do-it-yourself approach will address issues such as busy work schedules that do not allow employees time to go for testing as well as the stigma of facing medical workers when results turn out positive.

Testing in the privacy of one’s home gives the unfortunate person enough time to muster courage to seek counseling services. Another positive outcome with the new oral testing scheme is that the price of the gadget has been slashed by half, from Rwf 10,000 to 5,000.

This has been made possible through a public-private partnership with the government managing to get to the source, the sole manufacturers of the testing kit, so that local pharmacies get discounts to stock the kits.

This is an approach that should apply to other sectors that serve the public; going to the source and shutting out middlemen who in most cases are the sources of exorbitant price tags for essential medicines and equipment.