Rwandan Inequality Intensifies - New Report Shows Growing Healthcare Gaps

Aug. 15, 2012 - PRLog -- CHICAGO, IL August 15, 2012 - Today, The Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation (HRRF) released a new report Rwandan Health Care Corruption and Inequality: http://hrrfoundation.org/reports  The report highlights the experiences of rural Rwandan citizens who have been suffering for years and calls attention to the growing gap between health care for urban and rural Rwandans. The difference in treatment available to urban and rural citizens has diverged greatly since the horrific incidents of the 1994 genocide. Currently, 81.1% of Rwandans live in rural areas extremely limited in access to health care because the other 18.9% of the population live in urban areas with 83% of health professionals.

These findings mirror the food and economic gaps that have been found in earlier studies, including Rwanda Today: When Foreign Aid Hurts More Than It Helps http://hrrfoundation.org/reports

Based on these findings, the HRRF applauds the efforts of the Clinton Foundation and the Gates Foundation to improve healthcare in rural Rwanda.

Although the Rwandan government has successfully brought back prosperity to the urban citizens after the crippling years that followed the 1994 genocide, the recovery of the rural, mainly Hutu, Rwandans is still progressing slowly.

The average life expectancy in Rwanda is 55 years old, and according to the health report, 58% of specialists are over age 50, indicating a “strong likelihood that future access to specialists will decrease even further than the current level of inadequate availability.” Along with the potential future deficiency of physicians, President Paul Kagame is aiming to implement a sterilization program to reduce the number of poor Hutus.

Those being held in prisons have even less medical attention due to frequent torture and lack of general care for detainees. Article 45 of the Rwandan Code of Criminal Procedures states: “law enforcement officials may hold a citizen suspected of terrorism without a warrant for a maximum period of 48 hours before either releasing or filing charges against him.” During this period of time, many detainees are ruthlessly tortured by means of suffocation, starvation, and other excruciatingly painful mechanisms. Those being held in custody are not granted medical attention despite the brutal injuries they receive. Without a medical report, detainees have nothing to show judges to prove the prison’s violations of human rights. Those tortured must deal with the emotional pain long after the physical trauma heals.

The report also includes accounts from a Rwandan Tutsi, Claire Uwamutara, was a nurse who was urged to secretly eliminate Paul Kagame’s enemies. After refusing multiple requests, Claire was relocated and eventually sent to prison along with her husband, Danny. Both were released, but not until after enduring long hours of torture. They continued to defy the orders of President Kagame. On the morning of July 1, 2009, Danny and the couple’s son were murdered in their home while Claire escaped with three of her children. The four fled to safety carrying with them the hope of exposing the truth about Rwanda.

The Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation shares this goal with Claire. The Foundation was started by Paul Rusesabagina to prevent future genocides and raise awareness of the need for a new truth and reconciliation process in Rwanda and the Great Lakes Region of Africa. For more information on the foundation along with the complete health report please visit http://hrrfoundation.org