![]() ![]() It's even using human-size robots in the COVID-19 clinics to take patients' temperatures and deliver supplies. It set up national and regional command posts to track cases. Rwanda mobilized community health care workers and police and college students to work as contact tracers. In fact, we've been monitoring physical distancing data across the continent and Rwanda fares, I think, second they've physical distanced the second most across Africa" - a conclusion based on mobile phone movement data. They put some of the most stringent lockdowns in place compared to every other African country. "Rwanda did a few things that are quite smart," says Sema Sgaier, the head of the Surgo Foundation, which has just launched a new data tool to analyze trends around COVID-19 across Africa. Ohio has a similar size population and has recently been reporting roughly 1,200 cases a day. Since recording its first case in mid-March, the country of 12 million has recorded just over 1,500 cases. ![]() "We are using the same structure, same people, same infrastructure and laboratory diagnostics, but applying it to COVID testing." "The main machines we are using for COVID testing are the HIV machines that were (already) there," he says. The country is using systems and equipment it already had in place to address HIV. Nsanzimana says Rwanda's experience dealing with other infectious disease outbreaks is helping it now during the pandemic. If they get a positive result, then all the swabs that went into that initial vial are tested individually to pinpoint the person who's infected. This allows them to test far more samples at once. ![]() In order to test thousands a day, Rwanda has started using a process called "pool testing." Material from 20-25 nasal swabs are all put into one vial and run through the machine. It costs the government between $50 and $100 to run a single coronavirus test, Nsanzimana says. Yet all testing and treatment for the virus is provided for free. Rwanda's per capita income is roughly $2,000 per year. "We really believe that doing so is important to make sure we detect and trace where the virus could be," he says.Ĭomprehensive contact tracing is a task that has overwhelmed countries with far more resources than Rwanda. Nsanzimana says health workers call or visit every potential contact of someone who tests positive. Any contacts of that case who are deemed at high risk are also quarantined, either at a clinic or at home, until they can be tested. Anyone who tests positive is immediately quarantined at a dedicated COVID-19 clinic. We have also six other labs in the other provinces."ĭespite being classified by the World Bank as a low-income country, and despite its limited resources, Rwanda has vowed to identify every coronavirus case. "All these samples are sent that day to the lab," Nsanzimana says. The sample collection - from a swab up the nose - and filling out the contact information paperwork takes about five minutes. Nsanzimana says the testing is voluntary, although some others say refusal is frowned upon. Health officials in personal protective equipment administer the test. "So whenever someone is driving a vehicle, bicycle, motorcycle or even walking, everyone is asked if you wish to get tested," says Sabin Nsanzimana, director general of the Rwanda Biomedical Center, which is the arm of the ministry of health that's in charge of tackling COVID-19. ![]() In Rwanda, you might just get tested randomly as you're going down the street. In some places in the world right now, getting tested for COVID-19 remains difficult or nearly impossible. The robots were donated by the United Nations Development Program and the Rwanda Ministry of ICT and Innovation.Ĭyril Ndegeya/Xinhua News Agency/Getty Images The robots, used in Rwanda's treatment centers, can screen people for COVID-19 and deliver food and medication, among other tasks. A robot introduces itself to patients in Kigali, Rwanda. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |