On Monday 12 December 2011, I hosted the third consecutive
“Mondays with the Minister” Twitter chat on the topic of malnutrition in
Rwanda. For the first time, SMS was used in addition to Twitter. I recently partnered
with a local company, Nyaruka, to integrate SMS into the bi-weekly discussions. Nyaruka
moved fast to design a superb web platform where I can receive, respond to, and
publicly display SMS messages. During this first Twitter/SMS Mondays with the
Minister, approximately 40 people participated on Twitter, asking questions
from across Rwanda and other countries in the region. Students and researchers
interested in global health also joined from Europe and North America.
We will be improving the publicity on the SMS portion of the discussion in
coming weeks. Radio announcements and a Ministry of Health press release will
help to publicize it more widely for future chats, allowing Rwandans across the
country to contribute questions or comments about the chosen topic in the
language of their choice (Kinyarwanda, English, or French) during the time
frame of the discussion. Five total questions were contributed by SMS in English and
Kinyarwanda this past Monday, and I look forward to seeing many more in future
weeks.
This week’s discussion on malnutrition in Rwanda touched on
current chronic malnutrition and anemia statistics in Rwanda, which remain very
high. We discussed the state of the Ministry of Health’s response to
malnutrition, and many Rwandans were interested in behavioral change
communication efforts underway to promote balanced diets in addition to
structural anti-poverty interventions (such as One Cow per Family, kitchen
gardens, milk for students at school, and ubudehe)
that seek to combat food insecurity at the community level. Others were
interested in institutional collaborations to address malnutrition,
public-private partnerships in Government programs, the linkages between
nutrition and care for chronic diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis, oversight
of UNHCR refugee camps, and the prevention of obesity as Rwanda’s economic
growth continues. I asked what participants thought was the weakest part of the
Ministry of Health’s response, and this led to an exchange about meeting the
needs of vulnerable youth – particularly “street kids.”
All in all, the discussion was very interesting and
informative for me as Minister of Health. As is the case with Rwanda’s Umushyikirano (National Day of Dialogue),
it is so important for Rwandans to be able to communicate with their
Government. In the Ministry of Health and throughout the central Government, we
strive for transparency, accountability, and accessibility.
I’d like to thank again Nyaruka’s staff, especially Nic,
Eugene, and Eric, for their hard work on creating this new platform. I
appreciate this partnership and highly recommend them for other ICT for health initiatives. For all those interested, you can visit their
company’s website at http://nyaruka.com.
My next “Mondays with the Minister” discussion on Twitter
and SMS will be held on 9 January 2012 (time TBD). The topic will be
vaccinations, and we will discuss the impact, delivery, and sustainability of
vaccines in Rwanda. As a reminder, you can follow the discussion through my
Twitter account @agnesbinagwaho and
by searching for #MinisterMondays.
You can also send a question or comment in Kinyarwanda, English, or French by
SMS to 0788 38 66 55. SMS questions and my answers can be viewed online
at listen.nyaruka.com. I greatly look forward to our next discussion.
