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Maternal health

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Child health and HIV/AIDS

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22 February 2024

Health, Nutrition and Early Childhood Development in Rwanda

Introduction Children’s right to survival and development is recognized in Article 6 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) translate these obligations into several specific targets across several goals, including SDG 2, Zero Hunger, and SDG 3, Good Health and Well-being. In the last 25 years, Rwanda has made significant strides in reducing maternal and child mortality and enhancing child health, nu...

17 January 2024

A solution for tackling the challenge of malnutrition among pregnant women and children is here in Rwanda

Ngororero District, Rwanda, 17 January 2024 –, the Government of Rwanda, in collaboration with the Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC) and UNICEF, launched the Multiple Micronutrient Supplementation (MMS) programme for pregnant women, to address the pressing issue of malnutrition as a key component of Antenatal Care (A...

10 November 2023

Rwanda Biomedical Centre and UNICEF continue their strong commitment to supplying health facilities with life-saving equipment for mothers and children

KIGALI, 10 November 2023 – As part of an ongoing partnership, the Rwanda Biomedical Centre received life-saving supplies and equipment for maternal, newborn and child health and nutrition services worth US$ 5 million from UNICEF. Eighty (80) Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machines worth nearly US$300,0...

Breaking the Cycle: Understanding the Roots of Suboptimal Feeding Practices in Rwanda

In Gakenke District, mothers assemble for a monthly participatory community dialogue on healthy child feeding, and caring practices. Community nutrition groups like this one are organized and led by Elisabethe Uwimana, a 50-year-old lead community health worker in Nemba Sector. Parents come at these events to ha...

28 February 2023

Born too soon: paving the way to survival of newborns

14 June 2022 is a date that will forever be etched in the memory of Rehema Kampire, a resident of Rubavu district in Western Rwanda. It’s the day her baby daughter was prematurely ushered into this world, much to her trepidation and anxiety. “I experienced birth pangs and was rushed to a nearby clinic, but the m...

Improving survival and wellbeing of newborns in Rwanda

“As a midwife or nurse, you have to be artistic and precise in everything you do,” says Sophia Nyame, a Ghanaian nurse, while working at Kacyiru Hospital in Rwanda's capital, Kigali. “This is important because it helps reassure the patient that they are in good hands, and they will be taken care of, whatever the i...

25 September 2021

Perinatal Care Program Phase One completed successfully in Rwanda

Kigali, 26 September 2021. With the funding received from Takeda’s Global CSR Program, UNICEF, in partnership with the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) and the Rwanda Pediatrics Association (RPA), has made great strides in improving quality health services through the completion of phase one of...

27 October 2020

UNICEF procures $1 million in essential medical equipment for newborn health and the fight against COVID-19 in Rwanda

KIGALI, RWANDA – Although Rwanda has made tremendous progress improving child survival in the last few decades, the rate of death is still high among children in the first 28 days of life. In Rwanda, over 40 per cent of deaths among children under 5 occur during this neonatal period. To support the Government of R...

Reducing maternal and child deaths in Rwanda, one hospital at a time

KAYONZA, Rwanda – For Jacqueline Mukawiringiye, logging 12-hour shifts in the neonatology ward has not dampened her passion for the job. As head paediatric nurse at Gahini Hospital, she often bears the brunt of heavy workloads, but it only reinforces her feeling of fulfilment after a long day. “My work is more of ...

Born too early: Rwanda's smallest babies

KAYONZA, Rwanda - In the calm of her shared hospital room, Jemimah Nyirabimana sits relaxed as she holds her twin babies against her bare chest. Jemimah’s twins were born premature, weighing less than two kilogrammes at birth. She gently pats one of her babies on the back, looking around the room where she rests w...

Child health and HIV/AIDS

The challenge, Globally, 80 per cent of new-borns die from preventable and treatable causes. In Rwanda, UNICEF is committed to ensure that every child receives quality care that meets international standards. Rwanda has reduced the number of young child deaths by nearly 70 per cent. Just over a decade ago, for ev...

Doctors and nurses shine in one of Rwanda’s newest neonatology wards

NYANZA, Rwanda - Jeanne d’Arc Utetiwabo is a doctor of neonatology in Nyanza Hospital. It is crowded, often with too many patients and too few doctors. Too many times, she has seen risky pregnancies result in babies born too early. Her team acts quickly to save the lives of these mothers, but prematurely born chil...