Termination of the USAID Ireme project suspended scholarships for 500 midwifery students and halted national hospital accreditation efforts. Each trained midwife would have served 500–1,000 women per year, meaning 250,000–500,000 fewer women will access skilled maternity care in the first year alone. These interruptions threaten Rwanda’s long-term goals for health system quality and risk discouraging a new generation of health professionals.

Date: 10/25

Region: Africa

Country: Rwanda

Topic: Health

Policy Lens: Global Health Security

Additional Context: With support from USAID, MSH worked closely with the Government of Rwanda and partner organizations to strengthen the capacity, leadership, and resiliency of the country’s health system. The USAID Ireme program helped improve cost efficiency and resource allocation, built management and governance skills across the health system, and strengthened workforce optimization. The name, Ireme, translates to quality in Kinyarwanda.

Source: MSH