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. |
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 |
