Ihangane works with project leaders to incorporate a system of monitoring and evaluation into each project, as well as considerations of long term sustainability. Once recommendations have been fine-tuned and field tested, they will be expanded to all health center/district hospital service areas throughout Rwanda.
The Project also provides funding and programmatic support for projects that are generated from people living in underserved communities that are most impacted by HIV. The projects include:
- Sustainable Hospital Partnerships
Sustainable Hospital Partnerships with Ihangane has developed a communication system that will improve the flow of patients referred to the hospital from throughout the rural catchment area of Ruli District Hospital. The system will allow the hospital to reliably predict outpatient referrals from health centers. This improves the efficiency for hospital outpatient services, and improves the patient experience by decreasing wait times and minimizing the risk of coming to the hospital without being seen by a physician.
The Ihangane Project and Catapult Design have been working together with The Nyange Health Center to develop a solar power system that is able to provide consistent access to instrument sterilization, lighting, and communication devices such as computers and a TV/VCR for HIV education. Their goal is to create a reliable source of electrical power that can support standard of care health services, including HIV services, at the Nyange Health Center.
- Women’s Artisans Associations
The project supports business development for two women’s associations in Ruli, Rwanda. In Sub-Saharan Africa, food insecurity is an independent risk factor for HIV. This program encourages economic development for women who are HIV infected or are at high risk of HIV infection due to extreme poverty by providing access to a marketplace in which they can sell their crafts.
- Nutrition for HIV-Exposed Children
HIV-exposed infants are at extremely high risk for poor cognitive development, chronic illness, and death. The Ihangane Project’s Nutrition for HIV-exposed Infants (NHI) Program addresses these challenges through a series of short and long term interventions that focus on the underlying causes of malnutrition amongst these children and their families. The program begins with a pilot group of HIV-exposed infants between 6 months and 24 months of age at one health center. Each family is provided with age-appropriate food supplements. Once the pilot project has been successfully initiated and evaluated, it will be expanded to all HIV-exposed infants in this age group at the same health center. Once one health center has a strong program in place, the program will be expanded to another health center in a similar manner until all health centers have a program in place.
