Ex-US President Clinton to visit Rwanda tomorrow

Former United States President Bill Clinton is scheduled to arrive in Rwanda tomorrow for a two-day visit during which he will tour several projects under the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) and Clinton Global Initiative project.His visit was confirmed by Tej Nuthulaganti, the Programme Manager, Human Resources for Health (HRH), which is part of CHAI. The former US leader who started his latest African visit in Malawi on Wednesday, is accompanied by his daughter Chelsea Clinton.“President Clinton will be visiting Rwanda to see the progress of CHAI projects within Rwanda. He will visit the HRH project in action [at Kigali University Teaching Hospital, CHUK],” Nuthulaganti said. Rwanda launched the HRH programme in July last year as part of efforts to meet health needs of its citizens by 2020.President Clinton, who was visiting Rwanda then, also announced a seven-year programme aimed at training the next generation of medical practitioners in the country.Under the HRH programme, Rwanda targets to have at least 500 specialists in several medical fields after seven years.Under the programme, 13 educational institutions from the US are partnering with the Ministry of Health to improve the healthcare system in Rwanda. The US medical specialists also mentor Rwandan medics and equip them with skills to enhance their capacity.So far about 50 of the medics from different institutions are already in the country to kick-start the implementation of the programme.By the end of last year, Rwanda had close to 700 general practitioners, 7,286 nurses and 45,000 community health workers.“President Clinton will be observing clinical and didactic co-teaching by a Rwandan and US physician and nurse pair. He will also be sitting down with faculty to gain perspective on how the first year programme went,” Nuthulaganti added.Also during his visit, Clinton is expected to attend a nutrition event where the government, in collaboration with CHAI is building a factory in Kayonza that will produce fortified food for babies to prevent stunting.According to the State Minister in Charge of Public Health and Primary Health Care, Dr Anita Asiimwe, President Clinton through CHAI ‘has enormously supported different projects in the health sector’.“Today, along other initiatives, CHAI is playing an important role in supporting the Human Resources of Health (HRH) Programme aimed at building sustainable health systems in Rwanda,” said Dr Asiimwe.

National

Ex-US President Clinton to visit Rwanda tomorrow