News and Events

FHI/Rwanda Study Gains Attention of U.S. News Media

NOVEMBER 2007 — FHI/Rwanda study results were recently featured on the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer (view clip), a popular U.S. news program. Study data show a link between the introduction of U.S.-funded HIV services and increases in use of non-HIV primary health services. The study brings evidence to the debate over whether HIV programs benefit or burden the often weak health care systems in developing countries. Read FHI's November 2007 press release about the study or a May 2007 story featuring before and after pictures of a renovated Rwandan clinic.

Geographic Information Systems Strengthen FHI Program Planning

SEPTEMBER 2007 — For Family Health International, state-of-the-art geographic information systems (GIS) offer an exciting way to use data to improve outcomes in our HIV/AIDS programs. In late 2006, we began to explore how GIS can be applied in our programs in Kenya, Rwanda, and Zambia. FHI's offices in Indonesia, Nigeria, and Nepal are also using GIS.

 Learn more »

Primary Healthcare Services Increase with Integration of Basic HIV Care, FHI Study Shows

MAY 2007—A new FHI study contributes hard data and empirical analysis to the important debate on how the scaling up of HIV clinical services has affected delivery of primary healthcare services. It found that integration of HIV clinical services in 30 primary health centers in Rwanda contributed to increased service delivery in general, and served as building blocks for strengthening and reinvigorating primary healthcare.

 Learn more » 

Nurse Training Program Strengthens Clinical Care

MARCH 2007 — Rwanda has ambitious goals to increase the number of clinical sites offering antiretroviral therapy (ART). But with only 400 doctors for its population of 8.4 million, Rwanda's physicians cannot meet the country's growing healthcare demand. To help the government scale up HIV patient care, FHI supports a pilot project to increase nurses' capacity in clinical care. The program is offered at three clinical sites, in Kivumu, Nyarusange, and Nyabikende, through June 2007, with the potential to be extended.

 Learn more » 

FHI Visitors to Rural Rwanda Receive Joyous Welcome

OCTOBER 2006 — As visitors from FHI approached the rural Rwandan village of Butozo, villagers greeted them with songs about HIV prevention. Soon several villagers began a spontaneous dance, jumping in unison, and a beloved parish priest joined in to everyone's joy.

 Learn more » (and view larger photograph)

Tenth IMPACT-Supported Site Offers ART Services in Rwanda

MAY 2005 — Last month Ruhango Health Center became the tenth antiretroviral therapy (ART) site supported by the IMPACT Project, funded by the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief through USAID. The facility, run by the Catholic Mission, will receive technical and financial assistance from USAID and FHI/IMPACT to provide life-saving ART drugs to at least 120 HIV-positive patients by the end of 2005.

 Learn more »

Counseling Center Offers Hope for PLHA in Rwanda

DECEMBER 2004 — The Society for Women and AIDS in Africa (SWAA) gives hope and much needed help to both men and  women in Rwanda. The center provides information, training, a meeting place for people living with HIV/AIDS, counseling and referral services, and activities to build community support. Joel, a 41-year-old resident of Kigali, Rwanda, relies on the center to help him cope with his HIV/AIDS status.

 Learn more »

HIV Treatment Sites Open with Funding from the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief

JULY 2004 — The sixth and seventh USAID-supported treatment sites in Rwanda officially launched this summer at the Masaka Health Center in Kigali Rural Province and Kigeme District Hospital in the Gikongoro Province. With the addition of these two sites, the number of clients receiving ART services at FHI-supported sites in Rwanda rose to 894.

 Learn more »

Fourth ART Site Launched in Rwanda

DECEMBER 2003 — Ruli District Hospital has launched the first rural antiretroviral therapy (ART) program in Rwanda, the fourth ART program in the country supported by USAID. Located just 42 kilometers from Kigali, this rural health center will provide life-saving drugs to at least 50 HIV-positive patients in 2004.

 Learn more »

Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission Initiative Launched

DECEMBER 2003 — To commemorate World AIDS Day, Kicukiro Health Center, a Catholic health facility in Kigali, Rwanda, held a ceremony to officially launch U.S. President Bush's International Mother and Child HIV Prevention Initiative. In Rwanda, the initiative will provide antiretroviral therapy to 400 mothers and their families. Through FHI/IMPACT Project, 250 of these treatments will be prescribed to Kicukiro Health Center patients. The 13 initial ART patients received their first dose of medication on November 24.

 Learn more »

Video from Rwanda

 See video from Rwanda on the World AIDS Day 2003 Web page.