National

The World Health Organisation Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Luis Gomes Sambo, is in the country for high level discussions about the state of the country’s health sector.

He was received on Saturday by a delegation led by Health Minister, Dr Agnes Binagwaho.

Dr Sambo is expected to discuss with President Paul Kagame the challenges facing distribution of health services across the country as well as the impact of his organisation’s national programmes.

“Rwanda has achieved landmarks in major areas such as child health reforms, disease outbreak control and maternal health care; this is commendable progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, which WHO supports fully,” Dr Sambo said.

“WHO looks to look for more areas of collaboration with Rwanda while at the same time making sure that the already implemented strategies achieve their targets to improve healthcare.”

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr Uzziel Ndagijimana, announced that Dr Sambo would visit several hospitals and assess the impact of WHO initiatives.

“His visit is a clear indication that WHO is willing to continue support to Rwanda’s vision of providing every Rwandan with basic health services. We shall discuss with him the achievements in the sector so far as well as the weaknesses we identified where our actions must be improved,” Ndagijimana said.

Dr Sambo, an Angolan national, has served as WHO Regional Director for Africa since 2005.

Contact email: ivan.mugisha[at]newtimes.co.rw