Pediatrics and Child Health

Welcome: A Note from the Chair

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome.

Welcome to AHSU Paediatrics & Child Health. We are building something meaningful here in Rwanda, a rigorous, contextually grounded residency dedicated to training the next generation of paediatricians and child-health leaders for Africa and the world.

We are glad you are here.

About our program

AHSU Paediatrics & Child Health launched in 2024, alongside the founding of Africa Health Sciences University itself, with 10 residents in our pioneering Cohort 1; a class that set the standard for everything that has followed. By 2025 we had grown to 17 residents across two cohorts, and in 2026 we expect to welcome our largest intake yet, taking the program past 30 residents in training.

We began as a general paediatrics program, and we are growing quickly toward subspecialty care a trajectory you can see clearly in the clinics our residents already train within.

Our residents train simultaneously across three sites:

• King Faisal Hospital, Rwanda: our tertiary centre and reference point for congenital and complex care
• Kibuye Level 2 Teaching Hospital: on the shores of Lake Kivu, Kibuye District, Western Province
• Kibungo Level 2 Teaching Hospital: Ngoma District, Eastern Province

Our learners care for children across the full spectrum from the new-born to the adolescent, across communicable and non-communicable disease, from the everyday to the highly complex. At every site they work inside collaborative, interprofessional teams and share in the honest, structured reflection of regular morbidity and mortality review. This environment does not just build clinical competence it shapes exceptional physicians.

“We are not only training paediatricians — we are helping to build the foundation of child health for an entire region.”

Your role in this mission

Whether you are joining us to teach, to collaborate on research, to complete a rotation, or to explore partnership, you are part of something larger than any single role. We welcome colleagues across every mode of engagement:

• Teaching and mentoring our residents
• Collaborating on research and scholarship
• Completing a clinical rotation
• Exploring institutional partnership
• Supporting curriculum and program development

Every lecture delivered, every case discussed, every manuscript co-authored moves us forward. AHSU Paediatrics & Child Health is African-led, globally connected, and built to last.

Thank you for being part of this mission. We look forward to working alongside you.

With warm regards,

Dr. Stephen Sabiiti

Chair,

Department of Paediatrics & Child Health

Africa Health Sciences University

Kigali, Rwanda

Our Mission: Why This Program Exists

Sub-Saharan Africa still accounts for more than 80% of the world’s under-five deaths. Rwanda has set out to change that, and this program is part of how.

AHSU Paediatrics & Child Health was built to align directly with Rwanda’s Health Sector Strategic Plan V (2024–2029), Vision 2050, and the global mandates of UN SDG 3 and UHC 2030. Our purpose is direct: to transform medical graduates into autonomous paediatric specialists who can drive down neonatal and child mortality — toward the SDG 3.2 targets of 12 or fewer neonatal deaths and 25 or fewer under-five deaths per 1,000 live births by 2030.

We pursue that mission by:

• Building specialist capacity where it is scarce. Rwanda’s national “4×4” workforce reform has expanded annual paediatric residency intake from 9 to 78, and AHSU is helping produce the next generation of autonomous paediatricians to meet that demand.
• Bridging the rural–urban divide. Paediatric specialists remain concentrated in Kigali; our graduates are prepared to serve provincial and referral hospitals across the country.
• Keeping complex care local. By strengthening paediatric critical care, neonatology, and the management of non-communicable disease on-site, the program reduces the systemic delays and costly transfers that cost children time they do not have.
• Anchoring a regional hub. With high clinical caseloads and a growing subspecialty base, AHSU aims to make Rwanda a premier centre for paediatric care, research, and education across the East African Community.

Why Visit AHSU Paediatrics & Child Health?

This isn’t a typical global health rotation. AHSU Paediatrics & Child Health offers a rare opportunity to engage with a program that is actively shaping child-health training — not just practicing within it.

🏥 Multi-Site Clinical Training Three hospitals, three distinct clinical identities urban tertiary and complex care, high-volume rural paediatrics, and regional system building. Together they hold 165 paediatric beds and 26 ICU/HDU beds across the program.

👶 New-born-to-Adolescent Continuum Residents follow children across the whole of childhood. At King Faisal, this extends to complex surgical paediatrics and a growing base of subspecialty clinics our best-of-practice reference site.

🎓 Strong Simulation & Bootcamp Culture A dedicated simulation room at every site, anchored by intensive quarterly bootcamps and workshops including neonatal resuscitation (NRP) and other hands-on training that can run up to two weeks.

🔬 An Emerging Research Program A founding-era program on the move: manuscripts under peer review and funded departmental projects underway, with active, hands-on faculty mentorship. This is a chance to help build a research culture from the ground up.

🌍 A Growing Residency From 10 residents in Cohort 1 (2024) to 17 across two cohorts by 2025 and expanding further with each intake. This program is growing fast, and your contribution matters.

🌿 Rwanda: Safe, Accessible, Beautiful Rwanda is one of Africa’s most accessible and welcoming countries easy international flights, safe and clean cities, and extraordinary nature from Lake Kivu to the Volcanoes, Nyungwe, and Akagera National Parks.

Three Sites. One Program.

Each teaching hospital offers a distinct clinical environment. Together, they create a training experience unlike anywhere else in the region. At every site, residents work inside collaborative interprofessional teams, manage a mix of straightforward and complex presentations, and take part in structured morbidity & mortality (M&M) review.

King Faisal Hospital, Rwanda

Quarterly Referral, National & International Level, University Central Hub

• Location: Kigali, Rwanda (Capital City)
• Level of Care: Quarterly referral, national level
• Paediatric Beds: 36 , ICU/HDU: 10 , Simulation Room: 1 , Classrooms: 2
• What You’ll See: The full continuum of child health; from the new-born through adolescence including congenital conditions, complex surgical paediatrics, subspecialty clinics, and high-acuity critical care.

⭐ Rwanda’s flagship academic hospital and the central hub of the university; our best-of-practice reference site for congenital and complex care, where residents encounter the most intricate paediatric presentations in the country.

Kibuye Level 2 Teaching Hospital, Western Province

• Location: Kibuye, Western Province — on the shores of Lake Kivu, a 2-hour drive to Nyungwe and Gishwati-Mukura National Parks
• Level of Care: Level 2 teaching hospital
• Pediatric Beds: 55 , ICU/HDU: 10 , Simulation Room: 1 , Classrooms: 2
• What You’ll See: High-volume rural and community child health, resource-adapted paediatric medicine, and a broad case mix from the common to the critically ill.

⭐ Situated on the shores of Lake Kivu, one of the program’s largest bedside teaching environments, pairing volume with a strong critical-care footprint.

Kibungo Level 2 Teaching Hospital, Eastern Province

• Location: Ngoma District, Eastern Province, a 1-hour drive to Rusumo Waterfalls and Akagera National Park
• Level of Care: Level 2 teaching hospital
• Pediatric Beds: 74 , ICU/HDU: 6 , Simulation Room: 1 , Classrooms: 2
• What You’ll See: The program’s highest-volume paediatric ward; undifferentiated critical illness, regionally prevalent pathology, and a clinically diverse patient population.

⭐ One of Rwanda’s fastest-growing training sites offering residents exceptional breadth and volume in general paediatric care.

Subspecialty Depth at King Faisal

A general paediatrics program growing quickly toward subspecialty care. At King Faisal Hospital, our residents already train alongside established paediatric subspecialty clinics, a level of exposure rarely available in a program this young. These include:

• Neonatology
• Paediatric Cardiology
• Paediatric Pulmonology
• Paediatric Endocrinology
• Paediatric Neurology
• Paediatric Surgery

with paediatric gastroenterology preparing to launch and further subspecialties on the horizon. For residents, this means real exposure to subspecialty-level care. For visiting faculty, it means colleagues and clinics ready to collaborate.

Training & Research

AHSU Paediatrics & Child Health offers a rigorous curriculum delivered across three sites, with a strong emphasis on bedside teaching, simulation, and structured reflection.

A typical resident week

• Faculty Clinical Seminar: a structured teaching session led by faculty, delivered online across all sites
• Resident Case Presentation: a real case presented by a resident under faculty supervision, online
• Journal Club: a focused review of globally relevant paediatric literature, read in local context
• Afternoon Clinical Work: hands-on clinical training every afternoon, Monday through Friday

Teaching themes carry across the week, so a single clinical topic is often explored in depth through the seminar, the case presentation, and journal club together.

Quarterly Bootcamps & Workshops

Several times a year, residents come together for intensive, hands-on bootcamps and workshops; including neonatal resuscitation (NRP) and other practical skills training that can run up to two weeks. These are among the highlights of the residency calendar, and a natural place for visiting faculty to teach, share skills, and learn alongside our team.

Research

Ours is a founding-era research program, and it is moving. The department currently has manuscripts under peer review and two funded departmental projects underway; one at Kibungo and one at King Faisal, with several more in the pipeline. Residents are mentored directly by faculty, making this an ideal environment for collaborators who want to help shape a research culture from its earliest chapters.

Where You Come In

We are an African-led program, globally connected and we are actively looking for colleagues to teach, mentor, and build alongside us. Whatever your background; general pediatrics or any subspecialty, clinical or research, early-career or established there is a place for you here and a way for your expertise to matter.

Whether you can join us for a bootcamp, a rotation, a research collaboration, or a longer partnership, your contribution has a direct and lasting impact on child health in Rwanda and across the region. If you care about children’s health and want to help build something lasting, we would love to hear from you.

Join Us Contact the Team

We would be glad to hear from you.

• Chair, Department of Paediatrics & Child Health: Dr. Stephen Sabiiti
• Department Coordinator in charge of Academics: Dr. Nepomuscene Nkurunziza
• Department Coordinator in charge of Research: Dr. Ukwishaka Joyeuse
• Department Coordinator & Administrative Assistant: Mr. Cyemezo Barthelemy Excel
• Site Manager, Kibungo: Dr. Kebede Mola Meiso
• Site Manager, Kibuye: Dr. Simret Niguse Weldebirhan