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“The plan presents how a multisectoral approach; bringing sports, food and nutrition, trade, environment, education, and local government ministries together, as well as building the capacity of frontline health workers in villages and cells across Rwanda, supports necessary long-term investment.”
Dr. Daniel Ngamije, Minister of Health, Rwanda
Guiding Rwanda’s response to addressing non-communicable diseases (NCDs), this National Strategy and Costed Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases covers a five-year period from July 2020 to June 2025. Incorporating key learnings from Rwanda’s first Non- Communicable Diseases and Injuries National Strategic Plan 2014-2019, this is also inspired by, and aligned with, key national policies and plans.
This document combines Rwanda’s national strategy for NCDs, together with a costed action plan.
It lists the critical stakeholders involved in the prevention and control of NCDs in Rwanda and details the agreed operational priority interventions and their targets.
This strategy envisions a Rwanda free from the avoidable burden of NCDs, including injuries and disabilities. In Rwanda, as elsewhere around the world, the burden of NCDs is increasing. World Health Organization (WHO) estimates from 2016 show that NCDs, injuries and disabilities, accounted for 58 percent of total annual mortality in Rwanda. Cardiovascular diseases, injuries, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes are the biggest killers; these same diseases will be the focus of this five-year plan. Rates of NCDs are likely to be much higher than national statistics show, as many are not screened and go undiagnosed.
The Strategy has three key domains to guide action on tackling NCDs in Rwanda:
• Community awareness and engagement for behavioural change and early detection
• Prevention and control of NCD risk factors
• Quality NCD diagnosis and treatment services at all levels of care
The strategic document and costed action plan is meant to provide guidance, clarity of purpose, and national alignment as we respond to NCDs, it does not imply that the strategy is frozen for the next five years. As a result, we expect that this strategy will evolve during its five-year lifespan, as new facts and evidence come to light, and new contexts emerge.
The overarching goal of this plan is to reduce premature mortality from NCDs by 25 percent, by 2025. The actions that need to be taken to achieve this are organised in four strategic objectives:
