Health Centre of Excellence opens in Kigali

THE Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Health Systems Strengthening was yesterday officially opened in Kigali despite being operational for the last one year..The CoE was established by the National University of Rwanda/School of Public Health with the aim of strengthening the health systems in the country.The centre performs and develops research agenda for health system strengthening and universal health coverage, according to Collins Kamanzi, the Project Coordinator.Kamanzi explained that the centre also contributes to capacity building at national and regional level in the field of designing and studying health system strengthening approaches.“So far more than 17 countries have come here to learn about the best practices in Rwanda’s health systems. Rwanda was recommended by WHO as a model to other countries due to its success in community health based financing (mutuelle),”he said.Over 90 percent of Rwanda’s population are subscribed to the health insurance cover which he said is worth learning from.During the launch of the centre, the Minister of Health, Dr Agnes Binagwaho, noted that this was an example of policies backed with evidence in Rwanda’s health systems.“We can’t bring policies without evidence, which is why Rwanda is doing well. The policies implemented are supposed to have an impact on the population,” she said.She stated that Harvard has introduced a course for health ministers of various countries, and because Rwanda’s has some of the best policies, the global health course for ministers will be conducted in Rwanda.Prof Jean Baptiste Kakoma, the Director of NUR/School of Public Health, said that in only one year, the centre has achieved tremendous result in terms of capacity building to health professionals through on-site trainings.“The centre envisions developing the concept of study tours through making follow ups of the conducted visits to assess the impact realized from these tours and attaching their importance,” he said.It also plans to start offering short courses in the region and beyond for countries that need to learn Health System strengthening as many have expressed the need to do so, he added.This centre is funded by the Rockefeller Foundation, a US-based charity organisation.