Building Nursing and Midwifery Capacity Through Rwanda’s Human Resources for Health Program

Abstract

Global disparities in the quantity, distribution, and skills of health workers worldwide pose a threat to attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and deepens already existing global health inequities. Rwanda and other low-resource countries face a critical shortage of health professionals, particularly nurses and midwives. This article describes the Human Resources for Health (HRH) Program in Rwanda, a collaboration between the Ministry of Health of Rwanda and a U.S. consortium of academic institutions. The ultimate goal of the HRH Program is to strengthen health service delivery and to achieve health equity for the poor. The aim of this article is to highlight the HRH nursing and midwifery contributions to capacity building in academic and clinical educational programs throughout Rwanda. International academic partnerships need to align with the priorities of the host country, integrate the strengths of available resources, and encourage a collaborative environment of cultural humility and self-awareness for all participants.

Improved maternity care if midwives learn to perform ultrasound: a qualitative study of Rwandan midwives’ experiences and views of obstetric ultrasound

“…In Rwanda, there are approximately 300,000 births per year [25]. Because of insufficient midwives, pregnancy surveillance and delivery care are mostly provided by nurses at health centres, with referrals to higher levels of healthcare in case of complications [29]. There are three educational levels for nurses and midwives: A0, with a bachelor’s degree after 4 years of training at university level; A1, with a diploma after completing 3 years at an institute of higher education; and A2, with lower level training within the secondary school system [30].…”

Perceptions of midwifery students, mentors, and supervisors on the use of clinical teaching portfolio in Rwanda

“…The study conducted in Rwanda revealed that challenges in the clinical setting included the shortage of clinical supervisors, or turnover and often the absence of clinical supervision in a severely resource-constrained environment. [9] In this study, most participants reported that EP was more user friendly (easy to read and to navigate, easily accessible everywhere) when compared to PBP. This is similar to the findings from Pincombe [24] where students said that EP is simple, organized, and safe while PBP is not easy and not clear.…”

“…[8] Notably, neonates accounted for 39% of all deaths among children under five in 2011. [9] As the density of midwives has been found to be positively associated with immunization coverage and maternal, infant, and child survival. [10] It is important to strengthen the education of future midwives so that more competent midwives can help to achieve the Rwandese healthcare objectives.…”

“…Although many strategies are being used to boost clinical teaching in midwifery, the theory-practice gap and inconsistency of clinical expectations between classroom and clinical practice settings is still required to be addressed. [9] Very little is known about the use of the portfolio in clinical teaching and learning in Rwanda. Therefore, this article aims to explore the perceptions of midwifery students, mentors, and supervisors on the use of the clinical teaching portfolio with the following specific objectives: 1) Describe the perceptions of midwifery students, mentors, and supervisors on the use of the clinical teaching paperbased portfolio;…”

Clinical experiences of perioperative nursing Masters students in selected Rwandan referral hospitals

“…The University of Rwanda, School of Nursing and Midwifery started Masters of sciences in Nursing in eight nursing specialities including perioperative nursing. [2] This nursing speciality deals with care of patient before, during and after surgery. The three selected referral hospitals were used to provide clinical experiences.…”