I wanted to provide health care from the time I was a child. I did my nursing education, and after that, I did my medical education. Afterward, I thought about studying gynecology, but finally decided to do pediatrics because I wanted to interact more with newborns.

After my residency, I returned to Rwanda—not immediately after, because the year I was supposed to come back was the year of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. But I came back two years later, and when I came back the health sector was totally destroyed. I realized that I was not able to provide services to patients, because there were no equipment, no medicines and above all, no functioning systems in place. So, we had to create a system to provide care, which led me to work in the government—at the National AIDS Control Commission, and eventually, as Minister of Health.

I always wanted to be an educator, too. I had been deciding between clinician or educator and now, with my work at the University of Global Health Equity, I get to do both. I am a very lucky woman.

I learned how important good policies are, but also how officials can never be the only ones involved in setting policies. I believe the participatory process has made our policies in Rwanda successful, because we have made our policies with the people that will benefit from or will be harmed by them. The participatory process can help you to frame policies in a way that serves the majority, and especially the most vulnerable.

How does this work? You put them or their representative at the table. Let me give an example. We put civil society in the heart of the decision process in the National AIDS Control Commission. Our policies ultimately served them well because they wrote them with us. When I became Permanent Secretary, I extended this approach throughout the health sector. To make that happen, we had to help the civil society to be independent and strong, knowledgeable, and capable of advocating for themselves. This meant providing them with the right resources to be autonomous, knowledge about their opportunities, the capacity to advocate, and a voice at the table.

Never do something for people without them. In this way, we also built trust with the population of our country, so that they listen to us when we have something to say, because we also listen to them. They trust us if we tell them we are in danger. People say, “Rwanda is a very disciplined population.” No, it's a population that trusts its leaders.

Cultivate solidarity, participatory process, transparency, and good trust. That's what I learned.

I am so proud of the UGHE family because the people from the university have stayed here in Rwanda during the COVID-19 pandemic. The students had the choice to go home, and the majority of them have stayed in Rwanda. We are teaching our students that the future of global health needs leaders who will care for the most vulnerable. They have seen that in action: the majority of the staff and teachers stayed on campus.

This is a challenge, especially with a disease like COVID-19, where there may not be enough equipment and supplies to treat everybody. The human right to health is not always respected even when there is no emergency. So it's not easy during a crisis like COVID-19 for people to decide they are going to suddenly value the human right to health for everyone. Leaders in many countries don’t do this even during ordinary times. That's my concern.

We have to create a system that values all lives equally, and that ensures that everyone has access to the fruits of modern medicine. This is the foundation we need every day, and especially in moments of crisis.

Repeat every day that the life which is in front of you has the same value as the next life that will be in front of you, and the next life in front of you. I think we need simple language like that. The world still has a long way to go. But I think we will make it. We will make it.