Japan Embassy hands over Medical Equipment to UNFPA to enhance maternal, newborn care in Rwanda’s refugee camps

By Elias Hakizimana.

In a long-drive to support tremendous efforts of the Government of Rwanda and its partners to ensure healthcare services, UNFPA handed over maternal health medical equipment worth $50,431.32 (Rwf 52 Million) to AHA, Alight, and Save the Children as implementing partners to distribute to the refugee camps.

The handover ceremony of the equipment that include hospital beds, bed screens, trolley, stretchers, wheelchairs, Oxygen Concentrators and other crucial equipment for hospitals in humanitarian settings took place at UNFPA Country Offices at Kacyiru on March 18, 2022.

Since 2018, UNFPA & the Government of Japan have been collaborating to reduce maternal & child mortality in humanitarian settings in Rwanda. The Government of Japan supports UNFPA to implement SRH & GBV lifesaving interventions in six refugee camps in the country.

From July 2021, with funds from the 2020 Japan Supplementary Budget, UNFPA is partnering with AHA, Alight, and Save the Children, in implementing a one-year project entitled: “Strengthening Maternal, Sexual and Reproductive Health, Gender Based Violence Prevention and Response in humanitarian settings in the context of COVID-19 pandemic”.

This equipment will equip safe houses that are being constructed in the refugee camps of Mahama and Kiziba with the generous support from People of Japan.

 The equipment will intervene in Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) services and prevention of Gender Based Violence (GBV).

UNFPA received financial support from the Government and People of Japan in 2018, to assist and empower Burundian refugees especially women, adolescents and youth through life-saving sexual and reproductive health care, towards resilience building and human security.

This support enabled UNFPA and partners to strengthen capacity of health facilities and youth friendly services in Mahama refugee camp to deliver quality maternal health and SRH/GBV/HIV/AIDS services including availing referral system, create demand for maternal health, sexual & reproductive health services and support prevention and response to GBV.

Various medical equipment has been procured under that project, including an ambulance in Mahama camp to ease the referral of complicated obstetric & GBV cases to the hospital.

The project is to strengthen the capacity of health facilities in humanitarian settings to deliver quality Maternal Health, Sexual and Reproductive Health, and Gender Based Violence (GBV) prevention and response services in the context of COVID-19.

In particular, the project supports to avail additional spaces and equipment for quality provision of maternal health, sexual and reproductive health services while protecting women in reproductive health age using Sexual and Reproductive Health services and the frontline health workers. 

“I take this opportunity to thank the people of Japan and the Government of Japan for their generosity and continued support to UNFPA and humanitarian response in Rwanda. We are also grateful to all implementation partners with whom we share the same passion to save lives of women and girls in humanitarian settings” said Kwabena Asante Ntiamoah, UNFPA Rwanda Country Representative.

“We will continue to work with our partners to ensure every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled,” He added.

This medical equipment will contribute to strengthen the capacity of humanitarian health facilities to deliver quality Sexual and Reproductive Health and maternal health services to women and girls in humanitarian settings.

“We are now in unprecedented situation all over the world, and all the vulnerable people are the victims of this, especially people in refugee camps, and Rwanda is one of the countries in the World in taking care of refugees, so, in addition to that, Japan Government is calling for the World to respect human security across the world. This is why we decided to financially support all these efforts by stakeholders including UNFPA and other NGOs in taking care of refugees in the camps.” Said Masahiro Imai, the Ambassador of Japan to Rwanda.

Marcel Sibomana, the program manager and child rights governance at Save the Children Rwanda thanked the Government and people of Japan and UNFPA for providing the medical equipment.

“There is a big number of people in refugee camps who need support in terms of healthcare, especially in Mahama refugee camp, we had a problem of lack of medical equipment in the health post we are constructing, the facility will help mothers to access healthcare services close to the camp.” Sibomana said.

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