Every Rwandan Institute
has one common mission, improving the general qualification
of Rwanda's human resources and contributing to
the government poverty alleviation program. In this
regard, can you draw for our readers a picture of
the major steps that marked the development of your
institute over the recent years?
Any country's socio-economic development relies
on education and the KHI intends to be highly
involved in the development of our nation by providing
skilled human resources to the health sector.
Our Institute was set up by the government of
national Unity after the war in 1996 to satisfy
the needs of the population at that time. Our
mission was to provide every district of the country
with nurses and paramedicals personnel. We implemented
six departments according to the country's needs
and to our means: physiotherapy, nurses &
midwifery, anaesthesia, mental health, radiology,
dentistry, and laboratories. We recently created
an environmental health department in order to
better inform the population on illnesses risks.
How many years do your students remain at
the Institute?
We provide our students with a three-year course
giving access to a "graduat" or advanced
diploma. The first graduate completed their study
in 1999. So, as the teaching program is quite
technical the intake is of around 30 students
per class, enabling a better access and use of
specific equipment and an efficient training in
laboratories. Until 2001, 230 students have graduated
from this institute and they have proved to be
very useful on the field.
In 1996, where did you recruit your professors?
There was a significant lack of qualified teachers
and equipment. So, at that stage, the government
got highly involved and enabled us to get support
from foreign institutions, the European Union,
the USA and various European governments in order
to buy equipment. Alongside the transfer of technology,
some experts in each sector came here in order
to provide the necessary knowledge and know-how.
Afterwards, the government allocated a budget
for recruit foreign teachers. We currently have
14 expatriates teaching at the Institute. At the
same time, the government gave grants to Rwandan
students in order to give them the possibility
to study abroad (UK, Belgium, France, South Africa,
Canada, Kenya, Uganda) and get access to higher
qualification. Out of the 20 students sent abroad,
5 of them have returned with a Master and are
now capable of teaching in our institution with
the support from the government. Expatriate teachers
are very expensive. So, we plan to progressively
substitute foreign teachers with nationals.
The Health sector is a sector in perpetual
development. How do you keep your teaching staff
updated on the new equipments and techniques?
Our teaching programs have been elaborated in
collaboration with foreign experts. Those programs
enable us to satisfy the needs of the Rwandan
population and also suit international requirements
in the field. Also, we are permanently in contact
with similar foreign institutes and universities
eg university of Missouri, Western Ontario university,
university of Nat al, of Makerere, St Francis
Xavier university, Institut Pasteur, Kenya Medical
Training College etc... Within the South-South
co-operation, we just signed an agreement with
Natal University based in Durban. Thanks to this
co-operation, we will be able to deliver the Honour's
Degree to nurses and midwife clinical instructors.
We also prospect new partnerships via internet:
we are in contact with the University of San Francis
in Canada and hope we'll be able to co-operate
in the near future. We will have a canadian nurse
in internship for six month, from August 2002
to January 2003. Furthermore, as far as updating
concern, we have access to online articles.
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Apart from teaching, do you also invest in
research?
Yes, research is part of our mission. We have
a research commission. Research is a complement
to our teaching programs. For example, we are
studying the potential dangers related to radiology
activities and try to protect accordingly radiologists
against X-rays. We have done a research on HIV/AIDS
and Youth behaviour and another one on reproduction
health. Through the results of our studies, we
try to sensitise the population to the HIV risks
and give recommendations so as to promote new
behaviours.
But we have many other research programs, such
as prevention of backaches carried out by our
physiotherapy department. Our laboratory is carrying
out a research on the amibiase incurred by children.
The environment Health department will soon carry
out studies on malaria prevention.
The KHI and the KIST are located on the same
campus. What is your level of co-operation with
the KIST?
Our two institutes are quite new but we collaborate
very well in computer science for example. Their
technicians have trained our teachers and our
students. We use their teachers for English courses.
We share classrooms and conference rooms. At the
beginning, they used our laboratories for teaching
purposes.
The National University of Rwanda also provides
us with qualified teachers from time to time.
So, we share our human resources for the national
interest.
In terms of future prospects for the Institute,
what would you like to have accomplished within
the next ten years?
We hope to fill in the gap in terms of medical
and para-medical staff for the country. As per
know we are training the advanced diploma holder,
we are planning to upgrade to the degree course
very soon. For the nursing department the degree
course will be along with nursing speciality eg
teacher, paediatric, theatre, intensive care.
I would like to mention that we have a centre
for continuing education of health personnel at
all level, within a regional vision. We also wish
to level up the qualification of our teaching
staff. We will soon start distance learning and
hope it will contribute efficiently to the development
of our education system in the health sector.
We also intend to develop income generating activities.
We intend to provide specific services in physiotherapy;
we want to use laboratories for conditioning reagents.
We want to create a polyclinic that would be designed
to train our students. This project would allow
us to give a cost effective clinical training
to our students while, at the same time, we are
providing health services to the community and
generate income. So, those projects exist but
we are still looking for the means to implement
them.
Furthermore, our institution is sensitive to gender
and HIV/AIDS prevention. The intake is of 40%of
women. HIV/AIDS is part of our curriculum.
On a more personal level, can you enlighten
us on your professional background?
I studied molecular biology. I worked for a long
time with the Congolese Government on research
programs, especially on HIV in collaboration with
the USA Embassy and Belgium (IMT, Anvers). Then
I came to Rwanda and worked one more year in HIV/AIDS
the research at PNLS/Rwanda until I was given
the task to found the KHI. I'm still involved
in research, especially on HIV, but I also give
classes at NUR, faculty of biology as part time
lecturer. I am the Focal Person of the UNESCO
program of guidance and counselling for women
and girls in Africa, Rwanda chapter.
I am one of the founders and second vice-president
of the Forum for African Women educationalists
(FAWE). We encourage women education. We have
created a secondary scientific school for girls.
Women are in majority in this country and the
future of our nation depends a lot on those women.
But we need to provide them with good education
first.
NB : Winne shall not be responsible for unedited
transcriptions
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