The Rwandan Healthcare System: Can a Shifting Burden of Disease Threaten a Post-war Success Story?

Abstract

Rwanda is located in Central Africa, bordered by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi, Tanzania, and Uganda. In 1994, Rwanda was immersed in a brutal war and genocide. Rwanda's subsequent remarkable postwar recovery has been well documented. What this paper aims to do is to explore Rwanda's successes and the vulnerability it faces with the shifting burdens of diseases. This paper seeks to contribute to the global discourse on effective healthcare models in resource-limited, post-conflict settings, even as such countries achieve improved socioeconomic conditions and experience associated changes in population disease patterns.