The government of Rwanda conducted the 2010 Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey (RDHS) to gather up-to-date information for monitoring progress on healthcare programs and policies in Rwanda, including the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS), the Millennium Development Goals ...(MDGs),
and Vision 2020. The 2010 RDHS is a follow-up to the 1992, 2000, 2005, and 2007-08 RDHS surveys. Each survey provides data on background characteristics of the respondents, demographic and health indicators, household health expenditures, and domestic violence. The target groups in these surveys were women age 15-49 and men age 15-59
who were randomly selected from households across the country. Information about children age 5 and under also was collected, including the weight and height of the children.
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The content of these guidelines acknowledges that wasting and undernutrition in HIV-infected children reflect a series of failures within the health system, the home and community and not just a biological process related to virus and host interactions.
The guidelines do not cover the feeding of i...nfants 0 to 6 months old, because the specialised care in this age group is already addressed in other WHO guidelines and documents.
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Preliminary version for country introduction
Lancet 2013; 381: 1405–16
Series: Childhood Pneumonia and Diarrhoea no.1
To understand the patterns of Rwanda’s achievements in health development, it is important to explore how Rwanda addresses the Social Determinants of Health (SDH) particularly those related to routine conditions in which people are born, live and work. It is in this particular context that a case ...study on Rwanda’s Performance in Addressing Social Determinants of Health was conducted by the Rwanda Ministry of Health, with technical and financial support from the World Health Organization (WHO). The overall goal of the exercise was to document Rwanda's recent initiatives that contribute to the advancements of the Rio Political Declaration on Social Determinants of Health.
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The Vision 2020 is a reflection of our aspiration and determination as Rwandans, to construct a united, democratic and inclusive Rwandan identity, after so many years of authoritarian and exclusivist dispensation. We aim, through this Vision, to transform our country into middle - income nation in w...hich Rwandans are healthier, educated and generally more prosperous. The Rwanda we seek is one that is united and competitive both regionally and globally. To achieve this, the Vision 2020 identifies six interwoven pillars, including good governance and an efficient State, skilled human capital, vibrant private sector, world class physical infrastructure and modern agriculture and livestock, all geared towards prospering in national, regional and global markets.
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In recent years, Rwanda has been on the fast track to achieve major health improvements for its entire population. With the support of government agencies and various non-governmental partners, the Ministry of Health (MoH) has endeavored to decentralize Rwanda’s health system and bring health serv...ices closer to the people. Guided by multitude of national and international development frameworks, Rwanda’s healthcare successes include the establishment of a community health insurance scheme (mutuelle de santé), a system of cooperative-financed community health workers in every village, and interventions for researching, preventing, and treating diseases like HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria.
As the MoH continues to design innovative means to reach and surpass its prescribed health outcome targets, it will hold as core principles the integration of service provision, the increase in healthcare capacity, and the attainment of sustainable funding sources. Rwanda is committed to achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 and has declared Family Planning (FP) a national priority for poverty reduction and socioeconomic development of the country. Modern contraceptive use has more than quadrupled from 2005 to 2010, rising from 10% to 45%, but the government’s Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy calls for an increase the modern contraceptive prevalence to 70% by 2016. While structural changes in health care and supply chains have led to noteworthy improvements in FP and other services, there are still many challenges that must be overcome. As such, a strategic plan is needed to coordinate FP efforts around a well-defined set of objectives and responsibilities.
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The Third Rwandan Health Sector Strategic Plan (HSSP III) provides strategic guidance to the health sector for six years, between July 2012 and June 2018. HSSP III has been inspired and guided by the VISION 2020, which will make Rwanda a lower-middle-income country by 2020; the Rwandan Health Policy... of 2004; and the priorities set out by the Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRS 2008–2012).
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This document sets out Rwanda's Maternal, Neonatal Child Health (MNCH) national strategy (July 2013- June 2018). The MNCH strategy provides a framework for addressing maternal, neonatal and child health challenges currently facing Rwanda. It is an overarching strategy for scale up of the national re...sponse to reduce the current levels of maternal, neonatal and child mortality and morbidity in line with the
MDG health related targets and HSSP III targets. The life cycle approach and continuum of care concept, starting with care from the home environment to health facility, guided the development of this roadmap. It aims also to maintain and expand the coverage of cost effective and high impact interventions for maternal, neonatal and child survival in order to achieve national and international targets.
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The Health Sector Policy gives general orientations for the sector which are further developed in the various sub-sector policies guiding key health programs and departments. All health sub-sector policies will be updated in line with this new policy. The Health Sector Policy is the basis of nationa...l health planning and the first point of reference for all actors working in the health sector. The overall aim of this policy is to ensure universal accessibility (in geographical and financial terms) of equitable and affordable quality health services (preventative, curative, rehabilitative and promotional services) for all Rwandans. It sets the health sector’s objectives, identifies the priority health interventions for meeting these objectives, outlines the role of each level in the health system, and provides guidelines for improved planning and evaluation of activities in the health sector. A companion Health Sector Strategic Plan (HSSP) elaborates the strategic directions defined in the Health Sector Policy in order to support and achieve the implementation of the policy, and more detailed annual operational plans describe the activities under each strategy.
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