Palliative Care in Rwanda: Aiming for Universal Access.

In 2011, Rwanda's Ministry of Health set a goal of universal access to palliative care by 2020. Toward this audacious egalitarian and humanitarian goal, the Ministry of Health worked with partners to develop palliative care policies and a strategic plan, secure adequate supplies of opioid for the country, initiate palliative care training programs, and begin studying a model for integrating coordinated palliative care into the public health care system at all levels. It also initiated training of a new cadre of home-based care practitioners to provide palliative care in the home.

Palliative care in Africa: a global challenge.

We are often asked what challenges Rwanda has faced in the development of palliative care and its integration into the healthcare system. In the past, patients have been barred from accessing strong analgesics to treat moderate to severe pain, but thanks to health initiatives, this is slowly changing. Rwanda is an example of a country where only a few years ago, access to morphine was almost impossible.