Donation of Medicines to the Archdiocese of Kigali, Rwanda

Project location: Rwanda, Kigali
Project start date: June 2006 - Project end date: This project covers various years
Project number: 2006-06
Beneficiary: Diocese Caritas Kigali

The Archdiocese of Kigali in Rwanda presently has 18 clinics, 14 of which are in the rural region of Kigali. Highly trained personnel and priests provide free medical assistance in an area which is plagued by poverty. The consequences of armed conflict and of the 1994 genocide are worsened by Aids, malaria and malnutrition. The Kigali authorities cover sanitary assistance for 98.346 people, 71% of whom live below the basic survival threshold. Neonatal mortality reaches 13%, infant mortality is at 10%. The average lifespan is 39 years. Aids hits 39% of the population.

The Nando Peretti Foundation has financed this project to aid Approdo Romano association, which intends to act upon this infernal spiral of poverty and sickness and coordinate this project. The Kigali Caritas Diocesana Director, Abbé Anaclet Mwumvaneza, and the present director of the main seminar of theology of Nyakibanda, Abbé Antoine Kambanda, requested a donation comprising a list of medicines to be bought locally, in order to face the two clinics' needs (Rubungo clinic and Rotonde clinic).Buying these medicines will make both clinics autonomous for a year.

Final Report June 2008

Patients had to contribute by paying 10% of the price of each drug, while the hospitals have agreed to pay the remaining 90% of that amount, thanks to the donation of the Nando Peretti Foundation. Thanks to the contribution of 10% paid by patients, the hospitals have been able to provide medicines to further 415 sick in the Rutonde Health Centre and to further 550 sick in the Rubungo Health Centre.
The following medicines were purchased, in both the hospitals:
antimalarials;
antipyretics, anti-inflammatory, analgesics;
antiamebics;
vitamins;
anti-cough, mucolitics, expectorants;
antispasmodics;
antihaemorrhagics;
antibiotics;
antianaemics;
antihistamines;
corticosurrenal hormones;
antimycosics;
anxiolytics;
antacids;
anthelmintics;
dermatological medicines;
antiasthmatics;
consumer articles: catheters, epicranic needles for babies, bitstoury blades, gloves, distilled water, syringes and needles.