I am in Kigali, Rwanda this week for a meeting on how best to prepare for future outbreaks of Marburg, Sudan and Ebola viruses.
The last time I was here, there was an outbreak of Ebola and we were racing to have a vaccine approved. That vaccine is available now, but it is expensive. Outbreaks are rare, so it can be hard for public health leaders to figure out whether to invest limited public health dollars for preventive vaccination of thousands of people for protection from Ebola or invest in vaccination for protection of millions of children from diseases like measles, malaria, and pneumonia, which kill millions of children every year. Ebola kills approximately half of all of the people who contract it, but if a vaccine can be deployed quickly in the event of an outbreak, there is a good chance of getting it under control with minimal losses of life if response protocols are followed carefully.
The work is interesting and I am happy to be here. I am fascinated by the development going on across Africa and Rwanda is a shining example of development done extremely well. The city of Rwanda is beautiful, clean, efficiently run, safe and stable. The government has a strategic development plan through 2050 and the means to execute it since about 90% of the funds for the development are generated within the country, rather than the country needing to follow requirements of external funders, which may not always follow a cohesive strategy. The corruption level is the second lowest on the continent, further strengthening the overall economy.
Yesterday, I received notice that my United Airlines flight from Kigali to Brussels scheduled for Thursday was canceled and that my flight was rescheduled for Friday, meaning that the flight from Brussels to Washington, DC will not arrive until Saturday afternoon. I do my best to schedule work trips around our Rotary meetings and events, but sometimes it just doesn't work. Now, not only will I miss our Thursday night meeting, but I will miss a Leadership Team meeting on Friday, and the parade and Jim Church basketball tournament on Saturday. I will be sorry to miss all of these events but will make the best of it. I will let you know how it all turns out when we go caroling next Thursday!
In Rotary
Kate