Location
Rwamagana Health Center, Rwamagana District, Eastern Province of Rwanda
Community Description
Rwamagana is the capital of the Eastern Province of Rwanda, located just an hour east of the country’s capital, Kigali. Its proximity to the capital makes Rwamagana slightly more urban than the average Rwandan town, but among its neighborhoods are rural areas where electricity and water lines do not reach. Rwamagana has a population of approximately 47,000 people and covers an area of 87 square kilometers.
Rwamagana Health Center, as an urban health center, serves the largest population in the district: 33,206. Despite this large population, the dedicated staff offers a wide range of services such as voluntary counseling and testing for HIV, family planning, complete prenatal care, and regular wellness care. The staff treats an average of 2,500 new cases of illness each month.
Rwamagana Health Center has an HIV prevalence rate of 5%, higher than the district average (1%) and the national average (3%). In contrast, the health center’s initiatives to increase family planning use have resulted in a family planning rate of 39%, more than 10% higher than the district-wide average. In addition, the number of women who receive complete prenatal care at regular intervals in their pregnancy is steadily increasing.
The staff in Rwamagana Health Center rely on a system of buckets and water jugs in order to provide these services under sanitary, hygienic conditions.
Project Description
This project is to bring water to the family planning, voluntary counseling and testing and laboratory services. It will also connect the sinks and toilets of the health center lavatories to the system.
Rwamagana Health Center is located next to the district hospital and as such, the water lines are very near which will maximize the use of funds.
The project will make use of many existing sinks at the health center that are not presently connected to the water source.
Project Impact
47,000 will benefit from this project.
Peace Corps Volunteer Directing Project
Jennifer Boyd
Comments
This project provides a tremendous impact for the funds allocated. Water to these services is bound to reduce disease by creating hygienic conditions in these areas.
This is the fourth project under the direction of Peace Corps Volunteer Jennifer Boyd. The previous projects were:
- Rubona Health Center Water Project – Rwanda
- Gishali Police Health Center Water Project – Rwanda
- Munyaga Health Center Water Project – Rwanda
Dollar Amount of Project
$500.00
Donations Collected to Date
$0.00
This project became infeasible, and was not implemented.