The author of the best researched article that appeared in the re-established Rwanda Medical Journal will receive an award at the July 10-11 international conference on cardiovascular diseases in Kigali. This prize was pledged at the journal’s launch last year.

"It’s time to honour our last year’s pledge,” the journal’s Chief Editor, Dr Joseph Mucumbisti said Monday, but did not mention the prize to be issued and the winning author.

Mucumbisti who also heads the Cardiology Unit of King Faisal Hospital Kigali said the prize is part of an earlier US$ 2000 (approx 1.1m) pledge by US-based Rwandan medical expert, Dr Clet Niyikiza.  

Niyikiza who is the Vice President of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), a US-based firm, made the pledge at the journal’s launch in March 2007 at Kigali Serena Hotel.

The annual prize in memory of Niyikiza’s late wife, Imelda Umuraraneza, aims at encouraging local medical professionals and other people to write well-researched and educative articles that will have a positive impact on society.

The quarterly journal is being run under the Ministry of Health with contributions from several professionals in health related fields.

Niyikiza urged local scientific researchers to adhere to five professional ethics: integrity, reporting facts, generosity, transparency and leadership. Authors are expected to maintain a high level of integrity during their research even when not being watched and to always draw conclusions basing on well-researched data and not on assumptions.

The need for research and publication of health data top the agenda of the forthcoming Kigali symposium with the theme "the merging epidemic of cardiovascular diseases, a burden for developing countries.”

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