Health in Rwanda

The quality of health in Rwanda has historically been very low, both before and immediately after the 1994 genocide. In 1998, more than one in five children died before their fifth birthday, often from malaria. But in recent years Rwanda has seen improvement on a number of key health indicators. Between 2005 and 2013, life expectancy increased from 55.2 to 64.0, under-5 mortality decreased from 106.4 to 52.0 per 1,000 live births, and incidence of tuberculosis has dropped from 101 to 69 per 100,000 people. The country's progress in healthcare has been cited by the international media and charities. The Atlantic devoted an article to "Rwanda's Historic Health Recovery". Partners In Health described the health gains "among the most dramatic the world has seen in the last 50 years".

Despite these improvements, however, the country's health profile remains dominated by communicable diseases, and the United States Agency for International Development has described "significant health challenges", including the rate of maternal mortality, which it describes as "unacceptably high", as well as the ongoing HIV/AIDS epidemic.

The Human Rights Measurement Initiative finds that Rwanda is fulfilling 93.3% of what it should be fulfilling for the right to health based on its level of income. When looking at the right to health with respect to children, Rwanda achieves 100.0% of what is expected based on its current income. In regards to the right to health amongst the adult population, the country achieves only 94.4% of what is expected based on the nation's level of income. Rwanda falls into the "fair" category when evaluating the right to reproductive health because the nation is fulfilling 85.5% of what the nation is expected to achieve based on the resources (income) it has available.