Nepad to merge with African Union; leadership wrangle allegations cited
BY GEORGE KAGAME
The highly acclaimed New Partnership for African Development program has been merged with the African Union but remains with its office in South Africa.
Speaking to The New Times, Francis Gatare President Kagame’s permanent representative at NEPAD who also happens to be the director general of Rwanda Investment and export promotions agency Riepa said Nepad’s working structures will be merged will be with the existing African Union but what remains are the technical issues like human resource personnel, he also said the Nepad will ask the South Africa to host its secretariat.
Formed in 2002, Nepad was seen as a development initiative among African leaders to promote service delivery from governments to their citizens and alleviate poverty.
The initiative was highly supported by South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki, Nigeria’s Olusegun Obasanjo, President Paul Kagame and Senegal’s Aboudalaye Wade.
The proposal to merge Nepad within the African Union comes amid allegations of a leadership wrangle between the President of Senegal and that of South Africa in a Nepad consultative meeting ahead of the AU heads of State summit in June. The meeting held last week brought together heads of state from Senegal, Algeria, Ethiopia and South Africa in Dakar.
A high level meeting involving the mentioned countries, Nigeria, South Africa and Egyptian delegations were meeting in Dakar on Tuesday for Nepad and AU leaders. The meeting comes only one month after AU heads of state summit to be held in Cairo Egypt.
The heads of state, who were joined by Nigeria's foreign minister and the Egyptian economy minister, agreed to put forward all the proposals discussed on Tuesday to the next African Union heads of state summit.
President Paul Kagame has among African leaders that have supported the Nepad initiative and was the first to endorse the peers’ leaders’ assessment program. In this program African leaders agreed in principle to assess each other in terms of service delivery to their populations, good governance principles and respect for the rule of law.
It is reported in the media that disagreements about leadership between South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki and Senegal’s Aboudalaye Wade was the main reason Nepad merged with the AU. Gatare said Nepad’s merging was not a failure; “Nepad was born at the same time the Organization of African Unity was transforming into the African Union. It was formed as a programme for African countries to drive their own development destiny. Both organizations therefore grew simultaneously; the leaders have therefore decided to merge the two because they have the same principles.”
Gatare said Nepad will remain with its based South African secretariat but work with the same structures as AU, he said Nepad had succeeded in fulfilling its objectives with a good measure.
The disagreement between South African President Thabo Mbeki and Senegal’s Aboudalaye Wade about the leadership of Nepad caused reports that talks between the leaders had caused the failure of the talks.
Gatare said Nepad had been efficient in fulfilling the principles for which it was formed even if the AU also existed at the same time. “Nepad has increased among African leaders to take care of their solutions to African problems instead of waiting for action form elsewhere. We have been able to create a growth and development structure for Africa, Nepad has promoted regional integrations in all regions on the African continent that are actively benefiting Africans. In East Africa there’s the East African Community, ECOWAS for West Africa and SADC for South Africa.
Gatare said that Nepad had promoted regional and continental development programs for infrastructure like linking the entire continent on the transport network and plans were underway for Information Technology to penetrate the continent. He said that when projects like the EASSY and east African marine cables were launched Africa will be more advanced in the use of ICT.
EASSY or the East African Sub-marine Cable System (EASSy), is an ICT system that will connect the African continent with the rest of the world and Rwanda has also been one of its most vocal supporters.
The African marine cable is another ICT cable that seeks to link Africa on the broadband technology from Cape Town in South Africa to Cairo on Africa’s north most tip.
President Paul Kagame has asked beneficiary states to forge concerted efforts towards the effective implementation of the venture.
Gatare said the next heads of state summit will be held in June and the proposals put forward on Tuesday will be endorsed, the summit will be held in Cairo
But currently both organisations are dealing with harmonizing personnel details, and signing a host agreement with South Africa to host the Nepad secretariat which will effectively be working under the African.
Those proposals include Senegal’s Aboudalaye Wade demanding changing the structure of the current AU organisation to hand more decision-making power to the heads of state, rather than technocrats as has been the case.
The African dream has moved from brand name to another, beginning with the Organization of African Unity in 1963 for African independence, which has transformed into the African Union which also has political and economical African unity and having Libyan Leader Colonel Muamar Gaddafi as its most eloquent promoter.
Saturday, 26 April 2008
Ubudehe program building self esteem among Rwanda-Minister
BY GEORGE KAGAME
Ubudehe project has been lauded as very effective in fostering unity and development among Rwandans today.
Musoni said; “Ubudehe has been very critical in solving community problems, enhancing self independence and raising self esteem among members of our society.”
Ubudehe is a government initiated program as part of the decentralization policies adopted in 2003; the program works at the lowest administrative level in local government authorities, the Mudugudu.
At the cell level, the poorest two families are identified by mutual consent at by community members at cell meetings. The two families are then assisted by free labour to build a house and then government funds iron sheets and other finishing material.
He said this year the program was funded to the tune of 14m Euros and that his ministry had already covered half of the budget.
Musoni said along with Ubudehe, Ministry of local government had also adopted programs to assist poverty stricken Rwandans, he said; “we have built homes for poor Rwandans especially genocide survivors, by the end of 2008 we will build another 12000 homes across the country.”
Musoni however criticized the custom among Rwandans to getting to familiar with free offers from government; “in some areas where we built houses, even financially able people benefited. They simply left their old homes and came to government houses meant for vulnerable persons. In the process, they sold their lands for farming; they starved in government funded houses and caused a new problem, some others remained with two houses and rented one out.”
Musoni said by early 2008, his ministry has already funded the 15000 local government lower authorities in the country with 73710 roofing materials of which 43000 have already been supplied. There are 15000 cells in the country.
He said the government was also in advanced stages of streamlining the Fund for Genocide Survivors, the fund set up in @@@@is implemented by the ministry of Local government; “We shall start to give the money directly to students so they can spend it themselves instead of funding schools which had in some cases created stereotypes towards the beneficiaries.” He also said the national cultural troupe Itorero had trained 43000 teachers; “these teachers will be exemplary in their communities in building a future Rwanda,” said Musoni.
Musoni called upons Rwandans to register in the ongoing national identity cards exercise because the digital cards to be issued will be used in parliamentary elections on 15 September 2008.
BY GEORGE KAGAME
Ubudehe project has been lauded as very effective in fostering unity and development among Rwandans today.
Musoni said; “Ubudehe has been very critical in solving community problems, enhancing self independence and raising self esteem among members of our society.”
Ubudehe is a government initiated program as part of the decentralization policies adopted in 2003; the program works at the lowest administrative level in local government authorities, the Mudugudu.
At the cell level, the poorest two families are identified by mutual consent at by community members at cell meetings. The two families are then assisted by free labour to build a house and then government funds iron sheets and other finishing material.
He said this year the program was funded to the tune of 14m Euros and that his ministry had already covered half of the budget.
Musoni said along with Ubudehe, Ministry of local government had also adopted programs to assist poverty stricken Rwandans, he said; “we have built homes for poor Rwandans especially genocide survivors, by the end of 2008 we will build another 12000 homes across the country.”
Musoni however criticized the custom among Rwandans to getting to familiar with free offers from government; “in some areas where we built houses, even financially able people benefited. They simply left their old homes and came to government houses meant for vulnerable persons. In the process, they sold their lands for farming; they starved in government funded houses and caused a new problem, some others remained with two houses and rented one out.”
Musoni said by early 2008, his ministry has already funded the 15000 local government lower authorities in the country with 73710 roofing materials of which 43000 have already been supplied. There are 15000 cells in the country.
He said the government was also in advanced stages of streamlining the Fund for Genocide Survivors, the fund set up in @@@@is implemented by the ministry of Local government; “We shall start to give the money directly to students so they can spend it themselves instead of funding schools which had in some cases created stereotypes towards the beneficiaries.” He also said the national cultural troupe Itorero had trained 43000 teachers; “these teachers will be exemplary in their communities in building a future Rwanda,” said Musoni.
Musoni called upons Rwandans to register in the ongoing national identity cards exercise because the digital cards to be issued will be used in parliamentary elections on 15 September 2008.
Media practitioners urged to take academic opportunities
BY GEORGE KAGAME
The Director of the National University of Rwanda’s School of journalism Dominique Nduhura has called upon practicing Rwandan journalists to take up study opportunities in many of the country’s higher institutions of learning and enrich themselves with latest trends in the media industry.
Nduhura was on Friday closing a week training program for journalism lecturers in Rwanda, Burundi and DR Congo at Kigali’s Hotel Okapi.
The 12 member workshop had six journalism lecturers from Rwanda, three from Burundi and three from DR Congo and completed a two week program which began on 24 March to 4th April.
The training was organized by NUR’s Great Lakes Media centre was funded by the Dutch government and targets media trainers in the Great Lakes Region.
“We are committed to producing quality graduates, therefore we are targeting improving teachers’ skills by exposing them to good academic and practical elements so we improve the trade in the region,” Nduhura said.
Bosco Rushingabigwi an official with The Lakes Media Centre said the training program is ongoing; “the next module will begin in July this year and will be held in Netherlands, we are being taught about the latest trends in the media industry in regard to ICT,” said Rushingabigwi.
Gerard Mfuranzima a representative from Burundi said the training workshop has given him the opportunity to learn about challenges that his country faces in developing a media sector which is currently very low standard in his country.
The National University of Rwanda has lately introduced a certificate course to help unqualified journalists practicing the trade in Kigali, the classes leading to the award of certificates will eventually lead to a diploma and degree awards will be conducted from Kigali
BY GEORGE KAGAME
The Director of the National University of Rwanda’s School of journalism Dominique Nduhura has called upon practicing Rwandan journalists to take up study opportunities in many of the country’s higher institutions of learning and enrich themselves with latest trends in the media industry.
Nduhura was on Friday closing a week training program for journalism lecturers in Rwanda, Burundi and DR Congo at Kigali’s Hotel Okapi.
The 12 member workshop had six journalism lecturers from Rwanda, three from Burundi and three from DR Congo and completed a two week program which began on 24 March to 4th April.
The training was organized by NUR’s Great Lakes Media centre was funded by the Dutch government and targets media trainers in the Great Lakes Region.
“We are committed to producing quality graduates, therefore we are targeting improving teachers’ skills by exposing them to good academic and practical elements so we improve the trade in the region,” Nduhura said.
Bosco Rushingabigwi an official with The Lakes Media Centre said the training program is ongoing; “the next module will begin in July this year and will be held in Netherlands, we are being taught about the latest trends in the media industry in regard to ICT,” said Rushingabigwi.
Gerard Mfuranzima a representative from Burundi said the training workshop has given him the opportunity to learn about challenges that his country faces in developing a media sector which is currently very low standard in his country.
The National University of Rwanda has lately introduced a certificate course to help unqualified journalists practicing the trade in Kigali, the classes leading to the award of certificates will eventually lead to a diploma and degree awards will be conducted from Kigali
Media practitioners urged to take academic opportunities
BY GEORGE KAGAME
The Director of the National University of Rwanda’s School of journalism Dominique Nduhura has called upon practicing Rwandan journalists to take up study opportunities in many of the country’s higher institutions of learning and enrich themselves with latest trends in the media industry.
Nduhura was on Friday closing a week training program for journalism lecturers in Rwanda, Burundi and DR Congo at Kigali’s Hotel Okapi.
The 12 member workshop had six journalism lecturers from Rwanda, three from Burundi and three from DR Congo and completed a two week program which began on 24 March to 4th April.
The training was organized by NUR’s Great Lakes Media centre was funded by the Dutch government and targets media trainers in the Great Lakes Region.
“We are committed to producing quality graduates, therefore we are targeting improving teachers’ skills by exposing them to good academic and practical elements so we improve the trade in the region,” Nduhura said.
Bosco Rushingabigwi an official with The Lakes Media Centre said the training program is ongoing; “the next module will begin in July this year and will be held in Netherlands, we are being taught about the latest trends in the media industry in regard to ICT,” said Rushingabigwi.
Gerard Mfuranzima a representative from Burundi said the training workshop has given him the opportunity to learn about challenges that his country faces in developing a media sector which is currently very low standard in his country.
The National University of Rwanda has lately introduced a certificate course to help unqualified journalists practicing the trade in Kigali, the classes leading to the award of certificates will eventually lead to a diploma and degree awards will be conducted from Kigali
BY GEORGE KAGAME
The Director of the National University of Rwanda’s School of journalism Dominique Nduhura has called upon practicing Rwandan journalists to take up study opportunities in many of the country’s higher institutions of learning and enrich themselves with latest trends in the media industry.
Nduhura was on Friday closing a week training program for journalism lecturers in Rwanda, Burundi and DR Congo at Kigali’s Hotel Okapi.
The 12 member workshop had six journalism lecturers from Rwanda, three from Burundi and three from DR Congo and completed a two week program which began on 24 March to 4th April.
The training was organized by NUR’s Great Lakes Media centre was funded by the Dutch government and targets media trainers in the Great Lakes Region.
“We are committed to producing quality graduates, therefore we are targeting improving teachers’ skills by exposing them to good academic and practical elements so we improve the trade in the region,” Nduhura said.
Bosco Rushingabigwi an official with The Lakes Media Centre said the training program is ongoing; “the next module will begin in July this year and will be held in Netherlands, we are being taught about the latest trends in the media industry in regard to ICT,” said Rushingabigwi.
Gerard Mfuranzima a representative from Burundi said the training workshop has given him the opportunity to learn about challenges that his country faces in developing a media sector which is currently very low standard in his country.
The National University of Rwanda has lately introduced a certificate course to help unqualified journalists practicing the trade in Kigali, the classes leading to the award of certificates will eventually lead to a diploma and degree awards will be conducted from Kigali
local government Rwanda
Local government inspection manual to be launched soon
BY GEORGE KAGAME
The ministry of local government is set to launch an inspection manual where all administrative units in the country will be guided on how to deliver speedy services to their people.
The manual comes in place to compliment the now famous Imihigo performance contracts between local leaders and the President Paul Kagame. The contracts are part of the Rwandan government determination to practice good governance principles.
Speaking to The New Times Protais Musoni the minister of Local Government said; “the local government manual will consist a database in which all tax payers in the country are registered and the firms that collect these taxes,” Musoni said the information would be used by policy makers in the public, and private sectors as well as community based organisations. He added that with clear statistics the manual hopes to achieve a good working environment between tax payers and collectors.
The Ministry of Local government supervises the Imihigo targets otherwise known as performance contracts. Musoni said the manual will emphasize pro poor measures to reduce poverty in the country; “we have set out social protection measures to help absolutely poor people in the country. We aim to help vulnerable people in communities that have genocide survivors, child headed families disabled persons and people living with HIV/aids.” The local government inspection manual comes into force in this year.
The local government inspection manual is a Minaloc document that is approved by cabinet and it spells out clear guidelines for local government official to implement in regard to what needs to be done in order to achieve fast service delivery in the country.
Local government authorities have since 2006 signed performance agreements with President Paul Kagame, in the agreements the authorities set out performance targets to achieve in improving education, health, and speedy service across the country. Some district mayors like that of Muhanga district, who was voted out of office by his executive council citing failure to achieve performance, which are also enshrined in the national Vision 2020 document.
Rwanda’s commitment to Good governance, the decentralization policy adopted in 2003 has received world wide recognition for its effectiveness in getting public service closer to the people at the grassroots level of the Rwandan community.
In the decentralization reforms which began in 2003 have been lauded for improving services delivery by local government leaders to grassroots communities.
Musoni further added that his ministry intends to reduce the cost of paper work in administrative routines; he said the Minaloc was in partnership with national institutions like RITA (Rwanda Information and Technology Authority, NISR, Ministry of Infrastructure to deliver ICT across the country; “by end of 2008 all sectors (Mirenge) in the country will have ICT services in their office,” said Musoni.
BY GEORGE KAGAME
The ministry of local government is set to launch an inspection manual where all administrative units in the country will be guided on how to deliver speedy services to their people.
The manual comes in place to compliment the now famous Imihigo performance contracts between local leaders and the President Paul Kagame. The contracts are part of the Rwandan government determination to practice good governance principles.
Speaking to The New Times Protais Musoni the minister of Local Government said; “the local government manual will consist a database in which all tax payers in the country are registered and the firms that collect these taxes,” Musoni said the information would be used by policy makers in the public, and private sectors as well as community based organisations. He added that with clear statistics the manual hopes to achieve a good working environment between tax payers and collectors.
The Ministry of Local government supervises the Imihigo targets otherwise known as performance contracts. Musoni said the manual will emphasize pro poor measures to reduce poverty in the country; “we have set out social protection measures to help absolutely poor people in the country. We aim to help vulnerable people in communities that have genocide survivors, child headed families disabled persons and people living with HIV/aids.” The local government inspection manual comes into force in this year.
The local government inspection manual is a Minaloc document that is approved by cabinet and it spells out clear guidelines for local government official to implement in regard to what needs to be done in order to achieve fast service delivery in the country.
Local government authorities have since 2006 signed performance agreements with President Paul Kagame, in the agreements the authorities set out performance targets to achieve in improving education, health, and speedy service across the country. Some district mayors like that of Muhanga district, who was voted out of office by his executive council citing failure to achieve performance, which are also enshrined in the national Vision 2020 document.
Rwanda’s commitment to Good governance, the decentralization policy adopted in 2003 has received world wide recognition for its effectiveness in getting public service closer to the people at the grassroots level of the Rwandan community.
In the decentralization reforms which began in 2003 have been lauded for improving services delivery by local government leaders to grassroots communities.
Musoni further added that his ministry intends to reduce the cost of paper work in administrative routines; he said the Minaloc was in partnership with national institutions like RITA (Rwanda Information and Technology Authority, NISR, Ministry of Infrastructure to deliver ICT across the country; “by end of 2008 all sectors (Mirenge) in the country will have ICT services in their office,” said Musoni.
IRS
What happened to the IRS campaign in the fight against malaria?
BY GEORGE KAGAME
The Indoor Residual Spray campaign launched late last year as a very effective measure in controlling malaria in Rwanda was stopped on 14th February this year by the Ministry of Health. RTI Rwanda who were charged with the spraying cried foul at the intentions of the National Malaria Control Programme. GEORGE Kagame finds out what happened.
The highly publicized national indoor residual spray campaign which was launched last year in August has been described as a successful initiative among a handful that Rwanda has adopted in her drive to reduce malaria related health problems in the country.
Speaking to The New Times, Professor Michael Kramer, the director General of TRAC Plus said; “we are on top of fighting Malaria in Africa, we are model country in regard to reducing the threat of malaria to the population.”
With funding from US President George Bush Presidential Malaria Initiative; Rwanda has adopted several techniques to reduce to reduce malaria which is the leading cause of death in Rwanda. These techniques include, rolling out of insect treated mosquito nets, provision of water purifying tablets and this week will see the official launching of Coartem drugs in the private sector.
With a budget of over 100 million US dollars according to Dr Corine Karema the director general of the National Malaria Control Programme, the fight against malaria in Rwanda has been largely successful and is considered a model to other countries upstaged by the leading public health problem in developing countries malaria.
Health officials state that Malaria is the leading cause of death and illness in Rwanda.
The latest attack technique against malaria was launched last year in August. With the launching of the Indoor Residual Spraying, all the homes in the country were to be sprayed, with ICON an insecticide manufactured in the US to be sprayed on all the interior halls.
The project was highly successful when it was started in Kigali, where 159000 homes were sprayed i\with ICON, however on 14th Feb 2008, IRS was halted by the Ministry of Health and the National Malaria Control Programme.
By December 2008, the IRS campaign which was started in Kigali had posted good results, spraying implementers, donors and policymakers agreed.
Malaria related complications Professor Michael Kramer the director of TRAC PLUS says; “what was thought to be impossible in the fight against Malaria 20 or even 5 years ago has been successfully implemented in Rwanda, but by 2007, the use of health centres for malaria related illnesses had reduced in the country.” Kramer further states that at CHUK, there are no more malaria complicated cases and that in the whole country; “the distribution of mosquito bed nets and our change of malaria treatment cases has reduced ,malaria case n the country by 60 percent and its related deaths by 64 percent. This is a significant success considering that malaria was leading the cause of death in Rwanda before, currently it’s the fourth.”
However on 14th February 2008, IRS campaign was suspended by the Ministry of Health citing lack of enough preparations by all stakeholders involved in controlling malaria in the country.
RTI Rwanda the US based experts charged with implementing the task of spraying inside residential houses across the country have since taken offence at the decision to suspend the exercise. They accuse the National Malaria Control (PNILP) office for sabotaging the exercise; Dr Corine Karema the director General of PNILP says the allegations are “unprofessional and absurd”.
Kramer adds that the fight against malaria in Rwanda had registered a lot of success in a very short time and therefore we needed to reflect on our various approaches. He says the postponement of IRS was because of the need; “to address issues that developed during the first phase of the campaign, we needed to increase community sensitization, use of ICT, and train more sprayers because we were are also lacking in capacity.”
RTI officials cited that PNLIP was jealous because IRS funding was not channeled through the national malaria office; they say “the national malaria control office which is managed by the Ministry of Health did not cooperate with us (RTI), because they did not manage the money.”
Karema dismissed such allegations as baseless, she said, “RTI manages only 5US million dollars, PNILP manages 100 US million dollars, and we have partners that manage larger budgets that RTI. We cannot be jealous with RTI because of money.” She added that other malaria control organisations like Twubakane have a budget of 20 million US dollars, “all we require of our partners is to their activities aligned to our strategic plan. And besides most of that RTI money is going to the communities we cannot sabotage the funds that are in the interest of ministry of health,” Karema added.
For long malaria and is related infections have been responsible for 60 percent of deaths in the country. Development experts have stated that bottleneck to efforts in reducing poverty in the Sub Saharan African region. Today, Rwanda is the model country among developing nations that the cost of malaria can be reduced and eliminated with good approach.
Kramer said Rwanda is performing very well in fighting malaria; “we are on top of Africa in controlling malaria, we also a model country by WHO in fighting the disease. You cannot achieve that with cases sabotage in your team. I don’t have a word for such allegations.”
Kramer confirms the effectiveness of IRS, he says that the insecticide used to spray inside the homes which is branded as ICON by its American manufacturers@@@@ was tested by the World Heal Organisation and the government of Rwanda to be the best one available in fighting malaria spreading mosquitoes. Kramer adds; “this is an effective measure but we don’t want to start the program when we are not sure of its long term implications, we needed a concrete plan before spraying continued.”
A reliable source within RTI says they had trained enough Rwandans to take on the job but they were stopped from using their sprayers by PNLIP’s Karema. The source adds that the campaign was stopped abruptly even when RTI had invested a lot of money and time in preparations for the second phase; ‘we had our officials stuck in hotels for none days because Karema would not meet them to discuss why IRS was stopped,” he adds.
However the RTI officials have not been idol since the suspension of the exercise, the source says that they have been outsourced by their international office to teach other African countries how to carry on the exercise, “our managers have been taken to teach IRS spraying teams in Ghana, Mali, and Benin where RTI is also contracted to carry out spraying.
Professor Michael Kramer the director of TRAC PLUS said such allegations are an embarrassment to stakeholders involved the malaria control programme, “IRS is a large undertaking that needs a lot of logistics. The first round was quite successful but we had problems with the implementation of the second phase and we have informed our partners.”
The first round which saw 159000 homes sprayed in Kigali alone was labeled highly successful by PNILP but the second round of the IRS was postponed on 14th February 2008 a day before RTI had organized to resume spraying in Kirehe.
This was about the same time that the Rwandan rainy seasons began which would technically present problems to spraying teams and the efficiency of the spray.
Kramer says there were problems with RTI’s implementation teams; “we suggested some recommendations to the implementers of the campaign, I don’t know why they did not to what we proposed and this was about the same time that the El Niño seasons began. This was jointly agreed between us our partners including USAID.”
Kramer said a senior USAID official had recently been in Rwanda about “their concern with our decision to suspend the IRS and he agreed with our suggestions.”
The United States International Development Agency-USAID is financier of IRS and the project is part of the US president George Bush Presidential Malaria Initiative.
With the launching of PMI President Bush challenged the world to reduce the burden of malaria dramatically as a major killer of children in sub-Saharan Africa, and pledged to increase funding of malaria prevention and treatment by more than $1.2 billion over five years. The goal of this effort is reduce malaria deaths by 50 percent in each of the target countries after three years of full implementation.
USAID currently provides bilateral assistance for malaria control to Angola, Benin, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
A total of 1.3, million Rwandans were expected to have been protected from malaria through the indoor residual spray program by end of 2008.
RTI is a US based sub contractor that has been offered the job of handling the technical issues related with spraying the insecticide in all the benefiting countries.
Spray operators use ICON, inside the walls and it remains effective for three to six months after it is applied. In 2007, the U.S. Government contributed US$4.6 million to IRS efforts in Rwanda.
Karema said arrangements were underway to have IRS spraying resuming in June; “we hope to resume spraying in June but we are not unilateral in these decisions, if all our partners in malaria control are ready the spraying will go ahead in Kirehe.”
On side effects of ICON insecticide; Karema; “this insecticide comes from the family of pyrethrums and it is recommended by WHO, it has the lowest recorded side effects and they are minor. They include, skin irritation if the body is close contact with the drug. It is also efficient for use in boarding schools, military barracks, and prisons and inside homes, because one spray benefits many people at a once.”
BY GEORGE KAGAME
The Indoor Residual Spray campaign launched late last year as a very effective measure in controlling malaria in Rwanda was stopped on 14th February this year by the Ministry of Health. RTI Rwanda who were charged with the spraying cried foul at the intentions of the National Malaria Control Programme. GEORGE Kagame finds out what happened.
The highly publicized national indoor residual spray campaign which was launched last year in August has been described as a successful initiative among a handful that Rwanda has adopted in her drive to reduce malaria related health problems in the country.
Speaking to The New Times, Professor Michael Kramer, the director General of TRAC Plus said; “we are on top of fighting Malaria in Africa, we are model country in regard to reducing the threat of malaria to the population.”
With funding from US President George Bush Presidential Malaria Initiative; Rwanda has adopted several techniques to reduce to reduce malaria which is the leading cause of death in Rwanda. These techniques include, rolling out of insect treated mosquito nets, provision of water purifying tablets and this week will see the official launching of Coartem drugs in the private sector.
With a budget of over 100 million US dollars according to Dr Corine Karema the director general of the National Malaria Control Programme, the fight against malaria in Rwanda has been largely successful and is considered a model to other countries upstaged by the leading public health problem in developing countries malaria.
Health officials state that Malaria is the leading cause of death and illness in Rwanda.
The latest attack technique against malaria was launched last year in August. With the launching of the Indoor Residual Spraying, all the homes in the country were to be sprayed, with ICON an insecticide manufactured in the US to be sprayed on all the interior halls.
The project was highly successful when it was started in Kigali, where 159000 homes were sprayed i\with ICON, however on 14th Feb 2008, IRS was halted by the Ministry of Health and the National Malaria Control Programme.
By December 2008, the IRS campaign which was started in Kigali had posted good results, spraying implementers, donors and policymakers agreed.
Malaria related complications Professor Michael Kramer the director of TRAC PLUS says; “what was thought to be impossible in the fight against Malaria 20 or even 5 years ago has been successfully implemented in Rwanda, but by 2007, the use of health centres for malaria related illnesses had reduced in the country.” Kramer further states that at CHUK, there are no more malaria complicated cases and that in the whole country; “the distribution of mosquito bed nets and our change of malaria treatment cases has reduced ,malaria case n the country by 60 percent and its related deaths by 64 percent. This is a significant success considering that malaria was leading the cause of death in Rwanda before, currently it’s the fourth.”
However on 14th February 2008, IRS campaign was suspended by the Ministry of Health citing lack of enough preparations by all stakeholders involved in controlling malaria in the country.
RTI Rwanda the US based experts charged with implementing the task of spraying inside residential houses across the country have since taken offence at the decision to suspend the exercise. They accuse the National Malaria Control (PNILP) office for sabotaging the exercise; Dr Corine Karema the director General of PNILP says the allegations are “unprofessional and absurd”.
Kramer adds that the fight against malaria in Rwanda had registered a lot of success in a very short time and therefore we needed to reflect on our various approaches. He says the postponement of IRS was because of the need; “to address issues that developed during the first phase of the campaign, we needed to increase community sensitization, use of ICT, and train more sprayers because we were are also lacking in capacity.”
RTI officials cited that PNLIP was jealous because IRS funding was not channeled through the national malaria office; they say “the national malaria control office which is managed by the Ministry of Health did not cooperate with us (RTI), because they did not manage the money.”
Karema dismissed such allegations as baseless, she said, “RTI manages only 5US million dollars, PNILP manages 100 US million dollars, and we have partners that manage larger budgets that RTI. We cannot be jealous with RTI because of money.” She added that other malaria control organisations like Twubakane have a budget of 20 million US dollars, “all we require of our partners is to their activities aligned to our strategic plan. And besides most of that RTI money is going to the communities we cannot sabotage the funds that are in the interest of ministry of health,” Karema added.
For long malaria and is related infections have been responsible for 60 percent of deaths in the country. Development experts have stated that bottleneck to efforts in reducing poverty in the Sub Saharan African region. Today, Rwanda is the model country among developing nations that the cost of malaria can be reduced and eliminated with good approach.
Kramer said Rwanda is performing very well in fighting malaria; “we are on top of Africa in controlling malaria, we also a model country by WHO in fighting the disease. You cannot achieve that with cases sabotage in your team. I don’t have a word for such allegations.”
Kramer confirms the effectiveness of IRS, he says that the insecticide used to spray inside the homes which is branded as ICON by its American manufacturers@@@@ was tested by the World Heal Organisation and the government of Rwanda to be the best one available in fighting malaria spreading mosquitoes. Kramer adds; “this is an effective measure but we don’t want to start the program when we are not sure of its long term implications, we needed a concrete plan before spraying continued.”
A reliable source within RTI says they had trained enough Rwandans to take on the job but they were stopped from using their sprayers by PNLIP’s Karema. The source adds that the campaign was stopped abruptly even when RTI had invested a lot of money and time in preparations for the second phase; ‘we had our officials stuck in hotels for none days because Karema would not meet them to discuss why IRS was stopped,” he adds.
However the RTI officials have not been idol since the suspension of the exercise, the source says that they have been outsourced by their international office to teach other African countries how to carry on the exercise, “our managers have been taken to teach IRS spraying teams in Ghana, Mali, and Benin where RTI is also contracted to carry out spraying.
Professor Michael Kramer the director of TRAC PLUS said such allegations are an embarrassment to stakeholders involved the malaria control programme, “IRS is a large undertaking that needs a lot of logistics. The first round was quite successful but we had problems with the implementation of the second phase and we have informed our partners.”
The first round which saw 159000 homes sprayed in Kigali alone was labeled highly successful by PNILP but the second round of the IRS was postponed on 14th February 2008 a day before RTI had organized to resume spraying in Kirehe.
This was about the same time that the Rwandan rainy seasons began which would technically present problems to spraying teams and the efficiency of the spray.
Kramer says there were problems with RTI’s implementation teams; “we suggested some recommendations to the implementers of the campaign, I don’t know why they did not to what we proposed and this was about the same time that the El Niño seasons began. This was jointly agreed between us our partners including USAID.”
Kramer said a senior USAID official had recently been in Rwanda about “their concern with our decision to suspend the IRS and he agreed with our suggestions.”
The United States International Development Agency-USAID is financier of IRS and the project is part of the US president George Bush Presidential Malaria Initiative.
With the launching of PMI President Bush challenged the world to reduce the burden of malaria dramatically as a major killer of children in sub-Saharan Africa, and pledged to increase funding of malaria prevention and treatment by more than $1.2 billion over five years. The goal of this effort is reduce malaria deaths by 50 percent in each of the target countries after three years of full implementation.
USAID currently provides bilateral assistance for malaria control to Angola, Benin, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
A total of 1.3, million Rwandans were expected to have been protected from malaria through the indoor residual spray program by end of 2008.
RTI is a US based sub contractor that has been offered the job of handling the technical issues related with spraying the insecticide in all the benefiting countries.
Spray operators use ICON, inside the walls and it remains effective for three to six months after it is applied. In 2007, the U.S. Government contributed US$4.6 million to IRS efforts in Rwanda.
Karema said arrangements were underway to have IRS spraying resuming in June; “we hope to resume spraying in June but we are not unilateral in these decisions, if all our partners in malaria control are ready the spraying will go ahead in Kirehe.”
On side effects of ICON insecticide; Karema; “this insecticide comes from the family of pyrethrums and it is recommended by WHO, it has the lowest recorded side effects and they are minor. They include, skin irritation if the body is close contact with the drug. It is also efficient for use in boarding schools, military barracks, and prisons and inside homes, because one spray benefits many people at a once.”
Odinga Raila
I knew there was something about Odinga that I never liked. But with the following statement I think I now know why;
Each minister is to be paid about $16,000 a month and entitled to two officials cars and five security personnel - and in the case of Mr Odinga, 45 security personnel.
Mr Odinga has said that he knows people would have preferred a leaner cabinet, but it was a price that had to be paid to balance everyone's interests.
.....
A price of over 1200 lives and in a country where some people live below the value of one US dollar a day!
What is the difference between Odinga and proverbial colonial governor?, that one id black and the other WAS white?
Fuck Politicians
Each minister is to be paid about $16,000 a month and entitled to two officials cars and five security personnel - and in the case of Mr Odinga, 45 security personnel.
Mr Odinga has said that he knows people would have preferred a leaner cabinet, but it was a price that had to be paid to balance everyone's interests.
.....
A price of over 1200 lives and in a country where some people live below the value of one US dollar a day!
What is the difference between Odinga and proverbial colonial governor?, that one id black and the other WAS white?
Fuck Politicians
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)