UNAIDS envoy, First Lady visit Kacyiru Police Hospital

The Executive Director of UNAIDS Michel Sidibe and Her Excellency Jeanette Kagame, the First Lady of Rwanda paid a visit to Kacyiru Police Hospital near the Rwanda National Police headquarters in Kacyiru on May 6 2013.

The visit was aimed at experiencing first-hand progresses in the national AIDS response.

Sidibe who is on a two-day working visit to Rwanda was accompanied by Lamin Momodou Manneh, the UN resident coordinator.

The Director of Kacyiru Police Hospital (KPH), Commissioner of Police Dr. Daniel Nyamwasa guided the visiting delegation through an impressive maternity ward, Isange Gender Based Violence [GBV] one stop centre and the PMTCT program which shelters the Family Package project which extends basic care and other services to families infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.

Sidibe has been the Executive Director of UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations since January 1, 2009.

An outspoken advocate with a people-centred approach, he has called for the elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015.

The Commissioner of Police Nyamwasa said, “The visit of the First Lady and the UNAIDS Executive Director was aimed at seeing how the hospital operates and most especially how victims of HIV/AIDS have managed to make a live a meaningful life,”

With support from UNICEF, the Office of the First Lady and the Imbuto Foundation, Kacyiru Police Hospital delivers services to over 61,000 people – primarily women and children.

Through prevention-of-mother-to-child-transmission services, the maternity ward in the hospital’s women’s pavilion gives pregnant women living with HIV a better chance of delivering babies free from the virus.

The adjoining Isange One Stop Centre provides a haven to victims of child, domestic and gender-based violence. The facility is a model of integrated health services designed to overcome gender discrimination.

The maternity services at Kacyiru are a step towards realization of the Millennium Development Goals and the objectives of the Rwandan Safe Motherhood Initiative, which promotes increased public awareness of the need to make pregnancy and childbirth safe for all of the country’s women.

According to Nyamwasa, the Kacyiru Police Hospital which started operations in 2009 has received 5216 cases related to domestic violence.

Total cases received by the hospital related to domestic violence account to 31% while sexual violence accounts to 69%.

Out of the 31% reported domestic violence cases, 13% are affected men while 87% are women affected.

In general sexual violence cases’ percentage breakdown, 84% of the cases received are children under the age of 18 years; 14% are children under the age of 5 years while 16% are over 18 years and is a general representation of both men and women.

“The numbers have risen because of the mobilisation and sensitisation done countrywide to encourage people in breaking the silence against GBV cases through the toll free line 3029,” added Nyamwasa.

The Family Package which was launched the Family Package project in 2002 at Kacyiru health centre by the First Lady has since been extended to 27 other centres in the country to better serve the needs of the community.

One of the families that have benefitted from the Family Package project gave a testimony of how they have survived from the stigma of being affected by HIV/AIDS.

Jean Bosco Nzayituriki and Monique Nyiramboyeze knew they were carrying the HIV virus when they came for a pregnancy test before giving birth to a health four-year old boy at the hospital.

She was counseled and encouraged to join and participate in the activities of Family Package.

From a small micro project of weaving, they have managed to make a meaningful life and have a house of their own.

“Because of Family Package, we have access to drugs and we make a living. We have encouraged other affected families to join the Package such that they can stop worrying about their health and be able to live stronger,” added Nyiramboyeze.

Nyiramboyeze thanked the First Lady for her intervention towards improving health saying that she is the reason why her family is still alive.