• 13 acquire skills in AIDS research

RWAMAGANA - Health Minister, Dr. Richard Sezibera, yesterday called upon medical experts in the country to revive the Rwanda Medical Journal (RMJ).

Sezibera made these remarks at the closure of a one-month training exercise for AIDS researchers, organized by Women’s Equity in Access to care and Treatment (WE-ACTx), a non-profit organization. 

"Research is important because our government believes in being evidence-based. We therefore need a critical mass of people who are aware and committed to put in more hours and mental energy to breathe life into our journal.

"We in the ministry support this cause and will ensure that you get remunerated for your participation. That is why we are also putting in place a policy infrastructure so you can research in an environment that is well regulated and ethical,” the minister said.

He also affirmed government’s strong partnership with organizations like WE-ACT pointing out that such training initiatives are in line with Rwanda’s vision.

"Through performance-based financing, we are determined to support research development. Clinicians, for example, have a lot of information they can share since they see patients and do a lot of operations on a daily basis.

"This information should be documented and shared through the medical journal,” he emphasized.

Dr. Kathryn Anastos, an Executive Co-Director of WE-ACT, also noted that this is a chance for Rwandans to rely on their own evidence to inform policy and programmes.

"One of Rwanda’s goals in the biomedical centre is to develop research capacity and this is one way. We will ensure that we boost skills so that they can interpret data and use it to promote public health,” she said.

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