Rwandans have welcomed a new five-year project which is set to tackle preventable infant and maternal deaths.
The $ $48.5 million project, dubbed ‘Ingobyi’, loosely translated as palanquin, was unveiled in Kigali in the beginning of this week by the Ministry of of Health in collaboration with IntraHealth International.
Through the project, the government revealed the plan to tackle preventable health issues that threaten the lives of mothers and children by promoting high quality and integrated health services to mothers, children and adolescents.
According to officials, Ingobyi Project will operate in 20 districts with a prime purpose of increasing equitable access to reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health and malaria services in targeted.
Improving the quality of reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health and malaria services along the continuum of care in targeted districts as well as strengthening the performance of the health system at both central and decentralized levels are another target of the just-launched project.
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, the US Ambassador to Rwanda, Peter H. Vrooman applauded efforts invested by the Government of Rwanda to accomplish the integrated maternal and child health services.
He therefore revealed that such milestone pushes the organization to commit to continuous collaboration towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 3.
Ummuro Adano , the East African Regional Director of IntraHealth International, disclosed that the Ingobyi project will ensure it to provides a healthier, more productive future for Rwandan children and mothers.
He assured that their goals will be attained by building upon achievements Rwanda has made in the health sector, as well as previous USAID investments in the sector.
“Building on strong partnerships we hope our interventions will expand access to reproductive, ante-natal and post-natal care as well as malaria services in a sustainable manner along the continuum of care in targeted districts to contribute effectively to healthier mothers and children,” Ummuro said
The Minister of health, Diane Gashumba, welcomed the partnership noting that it gives more assurance for greater impact, she thus stressed that a lot need to be done to fill existing gaps to achieve intended outcomes and successful achieve the SDG3.
“We are grateful for this new partnership which came in to complement what have been achieved through the previous interventions,” the minister said.
“We are looking forward to improved services mainly focusing on increasing the rate of antennal visits, postnatal care reporting and family planning services,” she added.
IntraHealth’s partners on Ingobyi include World Vision Rwanda, Urunana Development Communication, Ingenuity Ltd., Society for Family Health Rwanda, and Akros, Inc.
The Express News
