Studies on human brucellosis in Rwanda are scarce, and the incidence is likely to be higher than official estimates. In a recent study using Rose Bengal Test (RBT) on women who had aborted or had still births in Huye district, 25% were seroprevalent. Thus, purpose of the present study was to investigate the seroprevalence in patients presenting with the key signs and symptoms of brucellosis. Cross-sectional study was done in Nyagatare District in the Eastern Province of Rwanda. A total of 198 patients were recruited from Nyagatare District Hospital, blood samples were collected, and sera analyzed with RBT. A questionnaire was used to explore the risk factors. A total of 12 patients (6.1%; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.662-7.820) were seropositive. Infection was significantly associated with drinking unboiled milk (odds ratio [OR] = 8.3; 95% CI = 2.4-29.2) and having had recurrent fever (OR = 5.6; 95% CI = 1.5-21.3) Drinking unboiled milk is a risk factor for infection. Provision of adequate resources and trainings to staff in brucellosis diagnosis is needed to reduce recurrence of fevers probably because of misdiagnosis. Public awareness creation on transmission routes of brucellosis is to be intensified.

Background: Community Health Workers (CHWs) have significantly contributed to the decrease of malaria prevalence and related mortality among under five children in Rwanda. This study aimed to explore the knowledge, attitudes and practices of CHWs about malaria prevention in a selected District of Rwanda. Methods: A descriptive method, using self administered questionnaires, was used for data collection from 65 respondents of one randomly selected Sector in Gicumbi District, Rwanda. Results: The majority of the respondents (89.2%,n=58) knew that the mosquito is the vector which transmits malaria to humans, and (73.8%,n=48) knew correctly the common signs and symptoms of malaria. (53.8%,n=35) were reported to have positive attitude, (100%,n=65) used mosquito net during night time only, although they are not aware of the specific time of mosquito bite Results on attitudes and practices. There was a statistically significant association between the practices and respondents' age (p value =.001), gender (p value=.001), respondents' knowledge (p value =.001) and respondents' attitudes (p value =.001). Conclusion: This study highlights the moderate knowledge on good practices of malaria prevention and management hence improvement with accurate knowledge through appropriate channels is needed, so as CHWs may eventually have good practices in malaria prevention and management.

Background Irrational drug use is a worldwide problem at all levels of health care, especially in hospitals. Prescribers in community tend to omit hospital prescribing practices, thus this problem is present at all levels of health care. Use of medicines can be greatly improved and wastage reduced if simple principles of drug management are followed. To help in solving this problem, World Health Organization (WHO) has designed prescribing core indicators that were used to evaluate drug prescription patterns in Rwanda Social Security Board (RSSB) affiliated patients.Material and Methods A retrospective cross-sectional study with quantitative analysis was carried out for a period of six months. Among the 1000 prescriptions collected, 18 of them were rejected for not fulfilling the inclusion criteria, the remaining 982 prescriptions were almost distributed equally from either private and public hospital or clinics. The study analyzed prescriptions from health facilities located in Kigali City, Rwanda. The results were presented in table with comparisons with the WHO prescription indicators.Results The average number of drugs per prescription is 2.4 which is higher than 1.8 recommended by WHO. The percentages of drugs prescribed with a generic name and those from National Essential drug List are 28.5% and 61.1% respectively, which are very low compared to WHO target of 100% for both core prescribing indicators. The percentage of encounters with an antibiotic prescribed is 42.5% and the encounters who received an injections account 1.2%.Conclusion This study revealed that there is a big gap in implementing WHO core indicators of prescription and concerned stakeholders should take measures to address this issue.

Background Diarrheal diseases remain an important cause of morbidity among children, particularly in children under five years old, in low-and middle-income countries where it causes nearly 1.7 billion cases every year. Methods We used a quantitative cross-sectional design. This study aimed to explore the determinants of child diarrhea among under five-year children in Rwanda. A deep analysis of the 2014-2015 Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey (RDHS), with multivariate logistic regression, using stata13 was performed. The 2014-2015 Survey was the fifth standard national survey, implemented by the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR) in a period of six months from November 2014 to April 2015. Results A sample of 2841 children under five years old were included. Chi-square test and logistic regression were performed. A significance level of 0.05 at 95% CI was considered. Child age and wealth index showed a strong association with diarrhea. Children in the age groups of 6-11, 12-23, 24-35 months were at higher risk of diarrhea than children aged 48-59 months,

Background Diarrhoeal disease is a worldwide public health issue and remains a major cause of mortality and morbidity in children under five years old. Low and middle income countries (LMIC) of Africa and part of Asia are more affected by diarrhoeal diseases. Objectives To measure the prevalence of Diarrhoeal Diseases and to assess Socio-demographic determinants among Under Five Years Old Children in Rwanda. Methods A cross-sectional design was used. Secondary data analysis was carried out on a sample of 7474 drawn from Rwanda Demographic and Health Survey (RDHS). RDHS used multistage sampling technique. Results After running multiple logistic regression, Sociodemographic determinants associated with diarrhoeal included age of children, wealth index category, mother education, husband/partner education, types of place of residence (P-Value<0.05). Conclusion The results of the study showed that diarrhoeal remains an important health issue in Rwanda. Occurrence of diarrhoeal was statistically associated with child age, wealth index, education of parents, types of place of residence. Rwanda J Med Health Sci 2020;3(3):328-341