“Around 850 health posts have been constructed. Around the same number of facilities is as well planned to be built,” announced Dr Diane Gashumba the Minister of Health on her trip to Western Province on the eve of the new year. Together with Jeremy Farrar the Director of Wellcome Trust, Minister Gashumba toured Rusizi and Rubavu districts to see how the Ebola vaccination campaign was rolling out.

Following the speech of Mr Ephrem Kayumba, the Mayor of Rusizi District who mentioned that the district was going to build 10 health posts, Minister Gashumba said that the Government of Rwanda was in full support of that plan. “We are going to build 10 more health posts,” she said in her speech. “As soon as the District leadership identifies where the additional health posts will be built, we will start the construction and we hope to deliver them before the end of the year,” the Minister later informed media in an interview.

Minister Gashumba reminded Rusizi and Rubavu districts’ residents that by the plan of His Excellency the President of the Republic of Rwanda, every resident should be able to access health care services within a 25-minute walk which means why health posts have to be widely availed across the country. “in addition to screening infectious and some of the tropical diseases, these facilities will offer NCDs screening like diabetes, kidney and cardiovascular diseases,” said the Minister, emphasizing on the fact that early screening of these diseases always offers better chances of treatment.

Those health posts will be providing antenatal care services and a number of them will be equipped to even perform baby deliveries.

The Minister not only announced the Government’s pledge to support construction of health posts in Rusizi District but also in Rubavu district and she said that the Government will support the construction, equipping and staffing of those community health facilities because they will considerably reduce the number of cases that usually are referred to upper health facilities while they can be handled at community level.