Road leading to Rutsiro district offices
Rutsiro district is designated as one of the poorest districts in Rwanda with high poverty levels. The Integrated Household Living Conditions Survey 3 (EICV 3) shows that 53% of the population is poor and ranked ninth country-wide.
This poverty has contributed to the levels of malnutrition in the district which has 44% stunting cases (4th nationwide) according to the latest Demographic and Health Survey (DHS)- 2019-2020.
KTPress visited some of the activities that are currently changing the lives of many of the children (under 5 years) who have been malnourished due to poverty in their homes.
Sr. Immaculee Maniraguha (middle) giving a media tour to journalists covering the MCH week 2025
Sr. Immaculee Maniraguha, the Director of Kivumu Health Center is aware of this fact and has dedicated her life to bringing these numbers down despite persisting poverty in this rural district surrounded by tea plantations on its gorgeous looking hills.
Maniraguha’s approach is very simple but has created a lasting impact which at one point, everything collapsed when she was transferred to another district.
Using donations from well-wishers from her congregation in Spain (Sister of charity of St.Ann), and district support, five months ago, Maniraguha started a self-sustainable income generating project-Ikimina Kivumu Heza (IKH) where they started with rearing chicken (150 layers) to address issues of malnutrition.
The collected eggs (at least 3,600 per month) are distributed to the malnourished children who come for check-ups twice a week in an area which has over 4,000 children.
Rutsiro mothers and children ready to receive government donated fortified foods at Kivumu HC
“When the malnourished child comes for checkup, we prepare a balanced meal with an egg for each child, but also use the opportunity to teach mothers how to prepare nutritious diets, ” Maniraguha said.
With support of Kigali farms ltd, the centre has also established a mushroom and vegetable gardens which are harvested for free by mothers with malnourished children instead of spending more money to purchase them at the market.
“Instead of buying for them food, we provide free eggs and mushrooms which we know will create a visible impact which is also sustainable,” Manirahuha said.
This according to Maniraguha this support has changed the faces of many children and adds to existing government nutrition interventions (supplements and fortified foods) and also guarantees that children whose parents cannot afford an egg are assured of two eggs, even when this is a small number compared to the average number of one egg per week.
Sr. Maniraguha and district health officials explain the malnutrition burden in families, largely caused by lack of family planning and teenage pregnancies in Rutsiro which borders Rubavu town
The cost of treating stunting in children in Rwanda is difficult to pin down precisely due to the multi-faceted nature of the condition, which involves nutritional, medical, and socio-economic factors; however direct costs can range from $50 to $300 or more, depending on the level of care and intervention needed.
Using the one egg per child model and other interventions (antenatal care), Kivumu HC has reduced the number of malnourished children from 150 to 25 children and no deaths recorded.
To sustain this, Maniraguha said that they plan to establish similar egg and mushrooms projects in every cell to benefit the community-based early childhood development centers (ECDs).
Basket weaving groups supported by Africa Evangelistic Enterprise (AEE) are one of the “Professional Umuganda” activities to raise incomes to afford nutritious foods in homes
Six months ago, the district launched a Rwf300 million “Professional Umuganda” initiative funded through a combination of the district’s budget and contributions from local development partners to monitor children’s growth at village levels, and educate mothers how to prepare balanced diets.
Dr. Venant Iyakaremye, the Director of Kayove HC in Ruhango sector, said that initiative is a wide approach of engaging community participation in the fight against malnutrition using collective village level leaders to identify and support families with malnourished children.
“This is combined with establishing self-help groups of 20 women to end malnutrition through doing business has seen the sector reduce cases by 78%, from over 864 to 79 children in the last six months and improving the challenge of social welfare,” Iyakaremye said.
Dr. Venant Iyakaremye speaking to a women’s weaving self help group in Rutsiro. The plan is to reach 200 from the current 78 groups
One of the women beneficiaries, Beatha Murakatete, a mother of three says that the groups helped to grow a business from Rwf4900 (selling rabbits) to selling becoming a mobile money agent with capital to sell Rwf200,000 in e-cash per day and retail avocadoes worth Rwf400,000.
“I didn’t know how to prepare a balanced meal and used to steal vegetables from neighbours’ gardens to feed on, but now I have a plastered house, I can afford vegetables, eggs for children and fees for my children,” Murakatete said.
These collaborative efforts underscore the district’s commitment to eradicating malnutrition and improving the lives of malnourished children (under five) from 38% in 2022 to at least 25% in the forthcoming DHS (this year).
Beatha Murakatete says she is a proud and abled mother doing all sorts of business to feed her children
Rutsiro women weave their way out of poverty. The group leader (front) says that each basket bought (Rwf5,000) is a child’s life saved
One of the mothers and child who is recovering from malnutrition after joining the self-help groups in Ruhango cell
