The Rwanda Biomedical Centre has set up a new division spearheading Research, Innovation and Data Science Division, with an aim of developing knowledge on ailments to improve responses and intervention.

The new division will take the lead of research and innovation activities according to Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana, the Director-General of Rwanda Biomedical Centre.

"As RBC, partners and collaborators, we are investing a lot in research and science in healthcare. With the creation of a new Research Innovation and Data Science Division. It is going to be a main focus going forward. We were doing research before but now it’s going to be more,” he said.

Nsanzimana said that the new entity will among other things support research projects including some that are ongoing as well as avail results and outcomes of the studies.

"We have a number of research projects ongoing some led by our teams directly while others are collaboration with other researchers. There is no limit to research, whoever brings know how is always welcome. We are creating a public portal for our research on our website,” he added.

Local health research is increasingly making waves on the global scene, with Dr. Nsanzimana noting that two local studies have been able to discover new variants of Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Rwanda was also involved in piloting and pioneering Pool testing for Covid-19, which involves combining respiratory samples from several people and conducting one laboratory test saving up resources without compromising outcomes in the process. The approach has since been taken up globally.

Nsanzimana said that currently, there are a number of studies going on including using dogs to detect the virus, vaccine efficacy, variants among others.

Dr. Aimee Geissler, the Global Health Security Director at CDC Rwanda, said that the research from Rwanda could provide insights on aspects such as surveillance, care, response, critical care response and digital tools that are used in Rwanda.