Andre Ndayambaje said the first baby he ever held was his sister’s—in a tragic setting that he will never forget. “It was during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, and my sister gave birth in the forest,” Ndayambaje said. “It was raining and cold, and I didn’t Read more…
Balancing full-time academics and raising a family is hard enough. Amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, student mothers at the University of Global Health Equity, a Partners In Health initiative in northern Rwanda, are facing additional pressures and difficult decisions felt by families everywhere: How to continue studies while also supporting children and spouses who live far Read more…
Three hours from Kigali, atop a remote hill hugging the Ugandan border, a small kitchen is having a big impact on agriculture and sustainability in the surrounding community. The kitchen is a campus hub at the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE), a Partners In Health initiative in northern Rwanda Read more…
Partners In Health employs or supports nearly 18,000 staff members in 11 countries around the world. More than 60 percent of those invaluable staffers are women, filling vital roles at all levels of the organization. In honour of International Women’s Day, which is celebrated March 8 and this year has a theme of Each Read more…
Dr. Cyprien Shyirambere is the oncology program director for Inshuti Mu Buzima, as Partners In Health is known in Rwanda. He leads the bustling, vital Cancer Center of Excellence at PIH-supported Butaro District Hospital in the country’s mountainous north. Many patients, family members, and caregivers travel to Butaro from across Rwanda or from surrounding countries such as Burundi Read more…
There are nearly 1 million new cancer cases and more than 500,000 cancer-related deaths in Africa per year, and these totals are projected to double by 2040. Training the next generation of health leaders to counter this rise is of critical importance. Increasingly, we see a need for cancer education that explores both the prevention measures and social determinants of Read more…
The hardest part about growing rice in a lush river valley in southeastern Rwanda, a dedicated group of farmers says, is “keeping the beds”—in other words, frequently yelling and waving to scare away flocks of hungry birds that descend on the paddies. Farmers’ piercing calls create a steady background noise Read more…
Spend a day at any Partners In Health site and there’s a good chance you’ll hear a phrase you’re unfamiliar with. Perhaps it’s a clunky acronym or polysyllabic drug name. But don’t worry: Keeping up with the ever-evolving world of global health is hard, even for insiders. In Need to Read more…
All over the world, millions of girls are denied basic human rights, such as access to health care and education. Since 2012, October 11 has marked the annual International Day of the Girl, a celebration that advocates for girls’ empowerment and human rights. This year, at Partners In Health, we Read more…
When Françoise Umutesi looks at her 1-year-old grandson, Blessing, she has the smile of someone who once thought she’d never have the chance to meet him. Umutesi, 45, is a breast cancer survivor. She had a mastectomy in 2012, at Butaro District Hospital in northern Rwanda. She was one of Read more…