Health in Rwanda

The quality of health in Rwanda has historically been very low, both before and immediately after the 1994 genocide.^[1] In 1998, more than one in five children died before their fifth birthday,^[2] often from malaria.^[3] But in recent years Rwanda has seen improvement on a number of key health indicators. Between 2005 and 2013, life expectancy increased from 55.2 to 64.0,^[4] under-5 mortality decreased from 106.4 to 52.0 per 1,000 live births,^[5] and incidence of tuberculosis has dropped from 101 to 69 per 100,000 people.^[6] The country's progress in healthcare has been cited by the international media and charities. The Atlantic devoted an article to "Rwanda's Historic Health Recovery".^[7] Partners In Health described the health gains "among the most dramatic the world has seen in the last 50 years".^[8]

Despite these improvements, however, the country's health profile remains dominated by communicable diseases,^[9] and the United States Agency for International Development has described "significant health challenges",^[10] including the rate of maternal mortality, which it describes as "unacceptably high",^[10] as well as the ongoing HIV/AIDS epidemic.^[10]

The Human Rights Measurement Initiative^[11] finds that Rwanda is fulfilling 93.3% of what it should be fulfilling for the right to health based on its level of income.^[12] When looking at the right to health with respect to children, Rwanda achieves 100.0% of what is expected based on its current income.^[13] In regards to the right to health amongst the adult population, the country achieves only 94.4% of what is expected based on the nation's level of income. ^[14] Rwanda falls into the "fair" category when evaluating the right to reproductive health because the nation is fulfilling 85.5% of what the nation is expected to achieve based on the resources (income) it has available.^[15]