Dr. Menelas Nkeshimana

Dr Menelas Nkeshimana was appointed by Cabinet as the Head of Department of Health Workforce Development in the Ministry of Health, Rwanda since July 2023. This new department is in-charge of addressing the current and the predicted shortage of health workforce due to insufficient production to match with the population growth rate and the complexity of global movements of the working class across different continents.

Dr Nkeshimana holds an MBBS (Hons.) from Tianjin Medical University in China, an MMed from the University of Rwanda, and a MSc. in Global Health Delivery from the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda. 

He has more than a decade of experience in clinical care and community outreach. He has occupied several managerial positions including serving as the Head of Department of Accidency & Emergency at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Kigali, and he has led to major systems improvements to positively influence the clinical care delivery. He has served as the Lead of the Sub-Cell in charge of Covid-19 case management at the Rwanda Joint Task Force for Covid-19 during the pandemic and has been advising on matters related to case management for a variety of high consequence infectious diseases such as Ebola and Marburg which are endemic in the neighboring countries.

As the immediate past Vice President of Rwanda Medical Association (a position occupied since 2018), Dr Nkenshimana has worked on several portfolios spanning from the medical doctors’ welfare in Rwanda and promoting an active engagement on global platforms including the Coalition of African National Medical Associations and the World Medical Association (WMA). He occupied a similar position in the Rwanda College of Physicians, with the main mandate being to promote the welfare of physicians in service, and ensuring that they have access to all the necessary horizontal collaborations enabling them to sustain their knowledge and skills through regular exchanges and an open communication channel.

He is an avid health equity advocate and a published researcher, and has a strong interest in public welfare and policy-impacting research in low and middle income countries. He has served as a co-Principal Investigator on several competitive grants funded by the NIH, and others. His research interests are in Health policy, Global health, Health workforce development, Health diplomacy, mHealth technology, emergency care, vitamin B12 deficiency, sepsis & HIV/ AIDS, epidemic intelligence, preparedness and response. He strongly values multi-sectoral collaborations that aim to improve and preserve our population well-being in the context of “One-Health” and data-driven global health security.

Andrew MUHIRE

Mr. Andrew MUHIRE is the Chief Digital Officer at Rwanda Ministry of Health.