Community members' knowledge, attitude, and practices towards Ebola virus prevention in the Western Province of Rwanda.

Background: The Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) for decades has been a public health concern in some parts of the world especially in East, Central, and West Africa. Despite investment in improving community members' health, there is regular resistance to available intervention, with little literature describing the reasons. This necessitated exploring knowledge, attitude, and practices of community members' towards the EVD prevention strategies in the Western Province of Rwanda.

Feasibility, Acceptability, Satisfaction, and Challenges of an mHealth App (e-ASCov) for Community-Based COVID-19 Screening by Community Health Workers in Rwanda: Mixed Methods Study.

Background: Although at the base of the pyramid-shaped organization of the Rwandan health system, community health workers (CHWs) are central to the community-based management of disease outbreaks.

Objective: This mixed methods study aimed to explore the feasibility, acceptability, satisfaction, and challenges of a mobile health (mHealth) tool for community-based COVID-19 screening in Rwanda.

Methods: Two urban (Gasabo and Nyarugenge) and 2 rural (Rusizi and Kirehe) districts in Rwanda participated in the project (smartphone app for COVID-19 screening).

High adherence to intermittent and continuous use of a contraceptive vaginal ring among women in a randomized controlled trial in Kigali, Rwanda.

Background: The introduction of female-initiated drug-delivery methods, including vaginal rings, have proven to be a promising avenue to address sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancies, which disproportionally affects women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa. Efficient uptake of existing and new technologies such as vaginal rings requires in depth understanding of product adherence. This remains a major challenge as data on adherence to vaginal rings from African countries is limited.

Best practices and lessons learned from implementing a massive Ebola vaccination program: Summarizing UMURINZI team experience.

Background And Aims: The unified Rwandan initiative for national ZEBOVAC immunization (UMURINZI) program's community engagement component was enacted to mobilize and vaccinate high-risk community members. This article describes best practices and lessons learned from the implementation of UMURINZI, a large-scale Ebola vaccination program.

Methods: The population deemed to be at risk for EVD consisted of people who frequently cross Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) borders including those coming from Kigali City, potential first responders who have not previously been vaccinated against EVD, as well as people who reside in high-risk border-proximate areas of the Rubavu and Rusizi districts in the Western Province of Rwanda.

Vaginal probiotic adherence and acceptability in Rwandan women with high sexual risk participating in a pilot randomised controlled trial: a mixed-methods approach.

Objectives: To evaluate adherence and acceptability of intermittent vaginal probiotic or antibiotic use to prevent bacterial vaginosis (BV) recurrence.

Design: Repeated adherence and acceptability assessments using mixed methods within a pilot randomised controlled trial.

Setting: Research clinic in Kigali, Rwanda.

Targeted point-of-care testing compared with syndromic management of urogenital infections in women (WISH): a cross-sectional screening and diagnostic accuracy study.

Background: Sexually transmitted and urogenital infections are typically managed by WHO-recommended syndromic algorithms in resource-poor countries, and presumptively in Europe. However, algorithms for vaginal discharge and lower abdominal pain perform poorly in women. The women's improvement of sexual and reproductive health (WISH) study in Kigali, Rwanda, sought to improve case-finding and infection management in women by introducing point-of-care tests.

High acceptability of a contraceptive vaginal ring among women in Kigali, Rwanda.

Background: Introduction of contraceptive vaginal rings (CVRs) could expand the contraceptive method mix reducing the unmet need for family planning in Rwanda, but data on acceptability of CVRs from low and middle-income countries are lacking.

Methods: This study explores acceptability of contraceptive vaginal ring (NuvaRing) use in Kigali, Rwanda using a mixed methods approach. We collected quantitative and qualitative data before, during and after conducting a clinical trial, using Case Report Forms, Interviewer Administered Questionnaires, In Depth Interviews and Focus Group Discussions.

A randomised trial of a contraceptive vaginal ring in women at risk of HIV infection in Rwanda: Safety of intermittent and continuous use.

Background: Contraceptive vaginal rings could play a role in expanding the contraceptive method mix and in preparing communities for the introduction of HIV prevention and multipurpose rings.

Methods: We conducted an open label single-centre randomised clinical trial of intermittent versus continuous use of NuvaRing® in Kigali, Rwanda, in 2013-2014. We randomised 120 HIV-negative women 1:1 to intermittent use (three rings with a ring-free week in between rings) or continuous use (four rings without ring-free weeks).

Informed consent, community engagement, and study participation at a research site in Kigali, Rwanda.

People enroll in medical research for many reasons ranging from decisions regarding their own or family members' health situation to broader considerations including access to health and financial resources. In socially vulnerable communities the choice to participate is often based on a risk-benefit assessment that goes beyond the medical aspects of the research, and considers the benefits received. In this qualitative study, we examined the motivations of Rwandan women to participate in a non-commercial collaborative research study examining the safety, acceptability, and adherence of a contraceptive vaginal ring in Rwanda juxtaposed with the perceptions of the research within the community.

Joining and leaving sex work: experiences of women in Kigali, Rwanda.

Although sex work can bring significant economic benefit there are serious downsides, not least vulnerability to adverse sexual health outcomes. Focus-groups discussions and in-depth interviews were conducted with 70 female sex workers to explore the context in which they started sex work, their motivations to leave, and their experiences of trying to leave. The pathway to becoming a sex worker was underscored by poverty, with disruptive events leading to increasing vulnerability and increasingly difficult life choices.