RAS Webinar: A look at Covid-19 interventions that worked in Rwanda.

Agenda:

The Covid-19 pandemic, which was first reported in December 2019, has easily been the one most disruptive disease to the human social fabric this century. To date more than 176 million have contracted the disease, and more than 3.8 million have succumbed to it. There has been untold individual and collective pain and anguish as a result. In the process, nations and societies responded in the best way they could to treat those infected and control the spread to protect those not yet infected. This called on governments to respond by effectively balancing social, economic and health interventions. This discussion will take a look at the role played by non-pharmaceutical interventions on the fight against Covid-19 and on how a strategy of judicious choices made a difference in saving lives, in the case of Rwanda. By January 2020, it was becoming clear to the world that Covid-19, an epidemic, could spread fast possibly into a pandemic. Having learnt from its historical challenges and lessons learnt, Rwanda is a nation that depends on preparedness. For example, the nation has been under a constant prepared state against Ebola which has been present in neighboring countries. Thus, from beginning of 2021 the government set up a framework of science-based guidelines with consistent interventions that have been and continue to be successful. This evidence-based approach is underpinned, for example, by the setting up of Covid-19 Science Advisory Group (SAG) and the effective advisory role the latter has played since beginning of 2020. This panel discussion will present an overview of some of these interventions, their impact in fighting Covid-19 and protecting the Rwanda society and lessons learnt for future application. In particular, the panel discussions will focus on the social interventions, the economic interventions and impact of effective governance. It will also look at community responses to measures taken to curb the spread of covid-19. The discussion panel will be composed of policy and multi-disciplinary experts, local and international. The audience will include RAS members, SAG members, policy experts, academics national stakeholders and citizens. The webinar discussion is scheduled on 16th. June 2021 from 15:00 to 17:00. It is hosted by the Rwanda Academy of Sciences (RAS) in collaboration with Rwanda Biomedical Center (RBC). Our international collaborators are: Academy of Sciences of South Africa (ASSAF) along with the United States National Academy of Sciences (US NAS). Prof. Manasse Mbonye President, Rwanda Academy of Sciences.