Celebrating 15 Years of CDC in Rwanda

Valerie Koscelnik, CDC Rwanda’s first Chief of Party at the official opening ceremony.

• CDC/GAP officially opens in Rwanda in September 2002.
• Rwanda becomes one of the 25 countries in which CDC/GAP supports national governments with their fight against HIV/AIDS.
• In 2002 Rwanda’s HIV prevalence is estimated at 8%.The CDC/GAP Rwanda County Program begins working in the following strategic areas:
  • PMTCT
  • Laboratory
  • Surveillance
  • Monitoring and Evaluation
• In 2002 the CDC Rwanda office is housed on the 2^ND floor of the Development Bank of Rwanda (BRD) building, on KN3 Avenue, in Kigali.

Monitoring and evaluation training

• The TRACnet initiative begins.
• TRACnet uses cell phones in the field to gather data on AIDS patients and their drug treatments.
  • TRACnet is implemented by Voxiva Inc. a U.S. based information systems company, in collaboration with Rwanda’s Center for Treatment and Research AIDS Center (TRAC) through funding and support from PEPFAR/CDC Rwanda.
  • TRACnet become one of Rwanda’s largest and most widely used e-Health platforms.
  • Frist Demographic Health survey conducted in Rwanda including the HIV prevalence module. Rwanda’s national HIV prevalence shown to be at 3%.
• Malaria is the leading cause of death and disease among children and adults in Rwanda.
• Launch of the Healthy Schools Initiative (2005 – 2009).

Official launch of the Healthy Schools Initiative

Secretary Leavitt poses for a photo with MVCT project staff.

• 4 year CoAg signed with Ministry of Health for “Preparedness and Response to Avian and Pandemic Influenza in Rwanda”.
• U.S. Secretary of Health, Michael Leavitt makes a special visit to Rwanda to witness firsthand the progress made with the Mobile VCT and Healthy Schools initiatives.
• Management of the ‘Mobile VCT initiative transitioned to the Ministry of Health.
• MOH considers adopting of the ‘Finger Prick’ testing method as national policy.
• PEPFAR/CDC through ICAP improve infrastructure and equipment at all Rwanda’s National Reference Laboratory (NRL) NRL/ICAP supported sites across the country.

Secretary Leavitt gets a rapid HIV test done using the finger prick method by a MVCT staffer. Dr. Innocent Nyaruhirira, Rwanda’s State Minister for Health, looks on.

Reequipped and renovated HIV molecular section at NRL.

Reequipped and renovated TB unit at NRL

HIPPP supported health information exchange to support maternal and child health.

• Pandemic Influenza H1N1 outbreak in Rwanda.
  • H1N1 outbreak is investigated and responded to successfully with support from CDC Rwanda.
• HIPP supported health information exchange program to support maternal and child health begins.
  • Health Informatics Private-Public Partnership (HIPPP) a collaboration between the International Development Research Centre, Rockefeller Foundation, PEPFAR/CDC’s, Rwanda’s MOH and Jembi begins.

Cohort 1 FELTP trainees posing for a picture with the Rwanda Minister for Health, Agnes Binagwaho, 2010

• CDC/WHO-AFRO establish an accreditation process to build African Laboratory capacity.
• First cohort of 15 FELTP residents are enrolled in the program.
• CDC supports RBC/MOH to conduct Rwanda’s 2010 national HIV/Syphilis survey among pregnant women.

• eIDSR – the electronic Disease Surveillance and Response System is set up under TRACnet II and used to monitor 23 diseases under surveillance in Rwanda.
• The Partnership for Advanced Clinical Mentorship (PACME) CoAg with the University of Maryland, School of Medicine begins.
  • Goal is to ensure maintenance of quality clinical services at supported facilities in the country that were previously supported by Track 1.0 partners.
• President Obama announces accelerated U.S. goals for “the beginning of the end of AIDS.”
• Cases of malaria in Rwanda drop from 8% in 2010 to 3% in 2011 and account for 6% of total deaths in 2011 as compared to 13% in 2010.

CDC Rwanda staff traveling out of Kigali for a SIMS visit.

• Site Improvement through Monitoring System (SIMS) of PEPFAR/CDC sites begins in Rwanda.
• Transition of the management of Rwanda’s Track 1.0 sites from International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGO) management to Government of Rwanda management begins.
• First cohort of FETP trainees graduate upon successful completion of the training.
• FETP trainees participate in the national yellow fever risk assessment. The results from this assessment inform WHO’s reclassification of Rwanda’s yellow fever risk status.
• CDC supports RBC/MOH to conduct the national 2012, HIV Behavioral Surveillance Survey for Female Sex workers.

FETP trainees and supervisor riding on a boat on their way to Nkombo island, Rusizi district during an outbreak investigation.

• Two graduates of Rwanda FELTP are deployed to West Africa to support the Ebola response.
• Over 10 FELTP graduates and trainees are involved in the Rwanda National Ebola Preparedness and Response planning.
• Piloted the use of Dried tube specimen (DTS) for proficiency testing (PT) as EQA for HIV Rapid Testing with support from CDC
• PEPFAR commemorates 10 years of working on HIV/AIDS in Rwanda.
• NRL acquires 5-stars in East African Public Health Laboratory Network assessment with support from CDC.
• Start of SIMS Version 1.0
• CDC supports RBC/MOH to conduct Rwanda’s first ever National HIV Behavioral Surveillance Survey for Men who have sex with Men.

Dr Rukelibuga of CDC Rwanda meeting with community leaders in Katongor, Guinea as part of the Ebola outbreak investigations.

• With support from CDC through PEPFAR Rwanda’s National Reference Laboratories establishes 6 additional laboratories through training and mentorship to support scale up of Viral Load testing.
• Dr Joseph Rukelibuga of CDC Rwanda supports the International Ebola Response team in Guinea for a period of 45 days.
• Rwanda becomes among the first countries to bring its PMTCT rates below 2% per annum, showing that it is possible to eliminate Mother to Child Transmission of HIV in Rwanda.

Picture of a Rwanda National Center for Blood Transfusion (NCBT) staffer using a QWALYS 3 – Blood grouping and cross matching machine bought with support from CDC Rwanda.

• The National Centers for Blood Transfusion (NCBT) is recognized as a regional center of excellence in Blood Transfusion Practice and is awarded the highest – level 3 – international standards accreditation by the Africa Society
  for Blood Transfusion.
  • Dr Swaibu of NCBT says “We could not have achieved this without technical support from CDC through PEPFAR funding”.
• Since 2002, CDC and its implementing partners have published more than 30 scientific articles in journals with high public health impact, with scientific studies covering many diseases and areas of interest in public health. These publications have helped drive health program improvements in Rwanda and beyond.
• CDC celebrates 15 years of working in Rwanda.