Gerard Ngendahimana, Deputy Director, Technical Services

Dr. Gerard Ngendahimana joined IntraHealth in 2004, coming from a Heineken Breweries Company in Rwanda, where he had developed a strong HIV/AIDS program. “IntraHealth was an opportunity to contribute to the availability of HIV/AIDS services at the community level,” he explains, “and not just for a company’s employees and their families.”

Dr. Gerard dedicated himself to public health and making high-quality health services available after he lost—to HIV/AIDS—his only brother who had survived the Rwanda genocide. Now he serves as deputy chief of party for technical services for IntraHealth’s HIV and AIDS Clinical Services Program (HCSP) and is also IntraHealth’s country representative for Rwanda.

“I have found IntraHealth to be an organization that helps you develop new approaches,” he says, “and suggest them as ways to make health services available.”

Dr. Gerard takes great pride in his work on the Mobile District Physicians approach—which allows people in rural areas greater access to antiretroviral treatment. “I am proud of this because I have been able to make a very important revolution without any significant costs.”

Dr. Gerard explains that typically when a patient cannot be treated at the frontline level—in this case, the health center level—then he or she is referred to the next level, in this case the district hospital. With the Mobile District Physicians approach, a district hospital physician travels weekly to each rural health center to consult with newly referred clients being evaluated to start antiretroviral treatment, follow-up with clients, review any cases with complications, and supervise health facility nurses. This approach saves clients time and ensures better follow-up, as care is brought closer to them.  

“I have been with IntraHealth for six years now,” Dr. Gerard says, “and this is the first time I have stayed with the same employer for so many years. I have become part of IntraHealth in Rwanda.”

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