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Health Care, Disease Control, Crime and Safety in Rwanda

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The health situation in Rwanda in 2004 shows, that the people’s health condition was very poor because of poverty. The ratio of physicians in the service was only five per 100,000 people, a situation which was brought about by the 1994 genocide which claimed the lives of many medical practitioners. This ratio has currently improved to one doctor per 50,000 inhabitants, and a nurse per 3,900 people. Access to health facilities or health centers has remained low at 37.9% despite financial aid and support provided by foreign agencies.

​Even with limited facilities, numerous hospitals and pharmacies operate in the country. They include the King Faisal Hospital in Kigali where five clinics also operate; Shyira Hospital in northern Rwanda; the 250-bed Kibajora Hospital in southern Rwanda; the Gahini Hospital in eastern Rwanda, and the National University Teaching Hospital in Butare. Among the pharmacies that you can find in Kigali include the Pharmacie Consell, Kipharma, Sunshine Pharmacy, and Clinvet Kigali.

​ The Ministry of Health, which is in the forefront of the healthcare system, has committed itself to the improvement of the people’s health by providing greater access to treatment, and increased public health services that address traditional problems on health, and by implementing a health insurance program that covers 92% of the population, with a premium of only one US dollar per year.

​ Under prevailing health conditions in the country, the government advises travelers to, among others, obtain travel and medical insurance and seek medical advice before travelling to the country for any purpose.