After five years of partnership with the Rwandan Ministry of Health, the Integrated Health Systems Strengthening Project (IHSSP) is drawing to a close. The project, leaders from the MSH home office, USAID Rwanda, and local and international partners gathered in Kigali on November 13 to celebrate the project’s many successes and share the wealth of knowledge it generated. Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, Rwanda’s Minister of Health, thanked MSH for the support it provided, which she said, “…enabled us to accelerate health progress and helped us to achieve our vision.”

The health workforce is the core of every health system. In Rwanda, where qualified clinical staff are in short supply—the country has an average of one nurse for every 1,500 inhabitants and one doctor per 15,306 citizens —efficiently allocating human resources is crucial to the provision of quality services.

Thirty-seven year-old Diogène lives in the Eastern province of Rwanda. In March 2012, he began to feel ill. He was short of breath, couldn’t walk uphill, and had chest pains. Diogène held community-based health insurance (CBHI), which enabled him to see a doctor at the Ngarama district hospital, where he was diagnosed with heart disease.

In 2011, Drocelle gave birth to her fourth child, and, for the first time, delivered at a health center. Throughout her pregnancy, Drocelle had been monitored by a community health worker, Elizabeth, who regularly visited her at home and encouraged her to go to the Musanze Health Center for antenatal care. When Drocelle went into labor, she contacted Elizabeth, who sent a RapidSMS text message to the Musanze Health Center requesting an ambulance. Without the ambulance, it would have taken Drocelle three hours to walk to Musanze Health Center.