Kigali, 3 July 2014
President Kagame and Erna Solberg, the Prime Minister of Norway today chaired the MDG Advocacy Group Meeting in Kigali for the first time in Africa to discuss progress towards the MDGs with an emphasis on maternal and child health under the theme: “Celebrating success and accelerating action on the Millennium Development Goals for children.”
The meeting aimed at updating on Rwanda’s progress on MDGs, with a focus on maternal and child health. Rwanda has made considerable progress on heath related MDGs, owing to effective and innovative public health policies.
During a joint press conference, President Kagame said if solutions to big problems are found somewhere, they apply anywhere else in the world:
“Rwanda is a small country but despite having gone through the biggest problems, people of Rwanda are not small”
Nearly half of sub-Saharan Africa lacks access to improved sources of drinking water and 37 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are not on track to meet the MDG sanitation target.As a result, an estimated 1.7 million lives are lost annually in Africadue to causes related to poor sanitation.
The Assembly of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union designated President Kagame to provide leadership in addressing deficiencies in water supply and hygiene and sanitation services in Africa. The Kigali Action Plan was developed jointly with the AU Commission, the African Development Bank among other stakeholders to accelerate progress in this sector.