The University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) through its department of Arts and Culture has launched partnership with Rwanda Cultural Heritage Academy (RCHA) in research and education that will benefit Rwandan students and museum visitors.
The partnership was launched at the Kandt House Museum in Kigali on September 12.
It targets collaboration on research, education, and public engagement initiatives between UGHE and RCHA. The partnership will also focus on linking between environmental health, human health and animal health, and global health equity.
According to UGHE, the partnership will benefit Rwandan students and Rwandan museum visitors.
“UGHE recognizes the value of multisectoral collaboration between health sector and other sectors. This need has been highlighted more than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic which has disrupted every sector of society. This is why all sectors must contribute to the response and recovery from the pandemic,” Rogers Muragije, UGHE’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Administrative and Financial Affairs said.
“It is in such a context that UGHE, as evidenced by the creation of Hamwe Festival and the Department of Arts and Culture in Global Health Public Engagement, promotes the involvement of the public in health sciences, in the arts and in the intersection of health sciences and art,” Muragije said.
He added that understanding the role of arts in health needs to be deepened and this is what the Hamwe Festival has been promoting for more than two years.
“An important project that will be undertaken within this partnership will be a permanent exhibition that will raise public awareness of the one Health approach,” Muragije said.
Hamwe Festival is an annual event that celebrates and encourages the contributions of creative industries in the global health field.
“We, the Rwanda Cultural Heritage Academy (RCHA -Inteko y’Umuco) and the University of Global Health Equity have entered into this partnership with the aim of strengthening our cooperation in order to achieve our common mission in education and public engagement,” Amb. Robert Masozera, Director General of RCHA said.
“Through this partnership, many achievements will be made in the areas of conservation, research, education, especially in relation to the links between environmental, human and animal health,”Amb. Masozera said.