Success Stories from Our Members in the field

Rwandan Health Program Saves Lives; Builds Self-Sufficiency, International Rescue Committee

In the east African nation of Rwanda, malnutrition was contributing to the deaths of thousands of mothers and small children. But an initiative sponsored by the International Rescue Committee has significantly improved health and nutrition in the region.

Five years after a brutal episode of ethnic-based violence that killed close to 1 million Rwandans, peace seemed to be taking hold, but poverty and drought posed a new threat. In Kibungo province in 1999, more than one in four children died before their fifth birthday, while hundreds of women perished as a result of complications during pregnancy.

Working in close partnership with the local Ministry of Health, IRC, an American nongovernmental organization, bolstered Kibungo's ability to care for pregnant women and malnourished children by building a network of traditional birth attendants and community health workers.

These birth attendants led mothers to prenatal consultations and convinced families to bring pregnant women to the hospital when they were having complications. Community health workers distributed Vitamin A and arranged for immunizations.

The number of Rwandans suffering from malnutrition in the area the past two years has dropped from 40 percent to 20 percent, and the number of women transferred to health facilities during their pregnancies has more than doubled. Just as important, because they were designed and implemented in close collaboration with local partners, the programs have been continuing without any outside funding.