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BWH received an $8 million research grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation’s African Health Initiative to strengthen and study community-based, integrated primary health care systems in rural Rwanda. In partnership with Harvard University and Partners In Health, BWH is working with the Rwandan Ministry of Health to implement and study an innovative model of comprehensive, community-based health care in two rural districts in Rwanda. Michael Rich, MD, of the BWH Division of Global Health Equity and country director of the Partners In Health Rwandan program, will lead the team with Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, the Ministry of Health’s permanent secretary.
“The emphasis of this unique grant is on evaluating large-scale models of care delivered within the public sector while simultaneously building clinical and research capacity at the local level,” said Paul Farmer, MD, PhD, chief of the Division of Global Health Equity. “This represents a new paradigm in research in the developing world setting. Our group of clinicians and researchers is deeply honored to be part of the population health implementation and training partnership, which simultaneously invests in research while attending to the professional development of a well-trained cadre of health workers and strengthening the public sector’s ability to deliver care.”
The grant will help this group expand the community-based model to additional health centers and strengthen the medical and social services they provide beyond HIV and tuberculosis to address the full spectrum of primary health care needs and chronic diseases. An electronic medical record developed initially for HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis patients will be expanded to all health services. Research will evaluate improvements in health outcomes at the district and local levels, as well as the costs and cost-effectiveness of the model.
BWH’s grant was one of four awarded by the foundation, totaling $44 million.
“We hope the foundation’s grants will provide the funding and flexibility the four partnerships need to address some of the delivery gaps that will improve the health care systems in the regions where they are working,” said Ed Henry, president of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.
The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation’s African Health Initiative was launched in 2007 to fund partnerships between teams of researchers, practitioners and local governments that will strengthen fragile health systems and address inefficiencies that prevent health agencies from providing higher quality integrated healthcare. The close collaboration with the government is a unique feature of the initiative, which will help ensure sustainability of national health programs and policies when funding for the grant ends.