Rwinkwavu, Rwanda:
Partners in Health
Building a chronic disease healthcare model in the heart of Africa
"An amazing accomplishment."
That’s how Dr. Gene Bukhman of Partners in Health succinctly describes the healthcare transformation Rwanda has experienced in the past decade.
Following years of instability during the 1990s, the country has made measurable gains in healthcare by building a system of clinics and community healthcare workers to prevent and treat infectious diseases representing the country’s leading killers: malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and diarrheal disease. Today, people are living longer than ever before.
But a noticeable gap in care still exists. Chronic, noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) such as heart disease and diabetes collectively represent an estimated 25 percent of the country’s disease burden, but have yet to be adequately addressed.
A medical anthropologist and cardiologist by training, Dr. Bukhman works closely with Rwandan Ministry of Health on the integration of noncommunicable disease care into the existing primary care system.
The Medtronic Foundation supports PIH in Rwanda as they create a model for NCD management, helping train nurses and community healthcare workers around a cluster of chronic diseases. It is an approach that is flexible and cost effective, and should prove replicable in other developing nations.
“Chronic care integration is a workable strategy,” says Bukhman. “There is no reason that poorer nations can’t address these health burdens.” Worldwide, an estimated 36 million people died from NCDs in 2008, 80 percent of them living in low- and middle-income countries.
“Medtronic founder Earl Bakken believes that every person should have access to life-saving care,” says Bukhman. “And he means everyone, everywhere. Caring about people. That’s what makes our partnership strong.”
Editor Note: Dr. Bukhman receives no direct compensation from Medtronic or the Medtronic Foundation.