Nursing Opportunities in Rwanda

The Rwanda Ministry of Health’s Human Resources for Health Program has several nursing openings for clinical nursing and midwifery faculty. The positions are available immediately and require at least a six month commitment.

Recruitment is also beginning for full time faculty for year 2, which begins August 1, 2013.

Faculty are employed by United States Universities, which means all applicants must be employable in the US. Nurses or midwives with experience across most specialty areas are encouraged to apply.

Here is a little more detailed information on the Rwanda HRH Program. The program represents a new model for health education and the delivery of foreign aid (as written on their website):

-       The project will create a new paradigm for cooperation between US academic institutions and academic institutions in Rwanda

-       Instead of small scale cooperative efforts between individual academic institutions involving exchanges of a few people, this will be a coordinated approach intended to upgrade medical and nursing professions in a comprehensive way according to national government plan.

-       US academic institutions will make a commitment that is unprecedented in global health. They will supply full-time medical, nursing, health management and dentistry faculty and collaborate with each other on all aspects of health professionals’ education.

-       The Government of Rwanda will contract with the US academic institutions. Responsibility, control and accountability will rest with the Rwanda Government.

-       After 8 years, the Rwanda Government is positioned to sustain the improved health workforce on its own without foreign aid.

For more information, go to www.hrhconsortium.moh.gov.rw

From the President – First Mission

My first mission was with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). They are an international, independent, medical humanitarian organization that delivers emergency aid to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, healthcare exclusion and natural or man-made disasters.

I really had no idea what I was getting into! I was the nurse for the project Habila, which was a remote village on the border to Chad. Habila’s population was about 6,000 prior to the war which began in 2003. When I got there in 2004, there were about 26,000 people that needed help and emergency aid. We took over an abandoned school and turned the school into a hospital which provided medical care to the people.

Habila was a trading place or a daily market to many of the nomads (Janjaweed) and farmers. However both lived in uneasy peace with each other. Women were routinely raped if they left the confines of the town to gather firewood for cooking or heat.

My mission was for 6 months. At the beginning, we started a malnutrition center, but as we cared for the population over time, nutritional statues improved. Common diseases were hepatitis and other water borne diseases like diarrhea, malaria, and trauma…all the usual problems. As the nurse, I was the hospital administrator, Human Resources, Nurse Educator, and Nurse Team Leader for our group of 3…physician, logistician and myself.

In this picture, we went out to visit the nomad camps and take them food. Karen, the woman to the right of the picture, was our Swiss logistician – here you can see that she struggled under the weight of the 60 pound bag of Unimix (80% corn / 2% soy). I however, slung the bag over my shoulder and marched along – causing peels of laughter from the men at my strength.

The nomads thanked us for our help by giving us rides on their camels. We reciprocated by giving them rides in our Toyota Land Cruiser. We also sat down together and shared a meal of goat intestine stew and Fanta Orange.

It was a great day, great memories, wonderful friends and hard work.

                               - Sue Averill, RN
                                  President, One Nurse At A Time

Seeking Nurse Educators ~ Tanzania & Uganda

Peace Corps is now accepting applications from qualified individuals interested in serving as medical or nursing educators in Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda through the Peace Corps Response program.  Volunteers will serve one-year assignments teaching clinical health skills to local practitioners.  For more information, visit the website at:  http://www.peacecorps.gov/resources/media/press/2092/.  You have to be over the age of 18 and a US citizen to apply.

The application can be found here: https://sjobs.brassring.com/1033/ASP/TG/cim_home.asp?partnerid=25332&siteid=5174

Please do not email the GANM looking for information – please visit the websites above.