Kigali, 25 July 2025 – The Ministry of Health through Rwanda Biomedical Centre in partnership with the European Union launched a three-year project dubbed “Transforming Rwanda Biomedical Centre into an Excellence Hub for National and Regional Public Health (TRIBE-HUB)”.
The project launch follows the designation of RBC as a Regional Centre of Excellence (CoE) by Africa CDC on January 31, 2025 — an acknowledgment of Rwanda’s leadership in driving public health innovation and capacity building across the region.
The Tribe Hub Project will support RBC’s ongoing transformation into regional COE, with interventions aligned with national priorities outlined in the Second Strategy for Transformation (NST2) and the Fifth Health Sector Strategic Plan (2024-2029). Over the three-year (2025-2028) period, the project will:
- Enhance Public Health Expertise at RBC and Partner Institutions.
- Contextualize gender-sensitive data to guide health strategies
- Strengthen digital Infrastructure for real-time disease monitoring.
- Translate evidence into policy.
- Transform Rwanda into a hub for public health innovation in Africa
Speaking at the kick-off event, Prof. MUVUNYI Mambo Claude, the Director General of Rwanda Biomedical Centre reiterated the project’s importance in supporting RBC to continue driving public health interventions not only for Rwanda but also across the region.
“This another important initiative that will help us to enforce public capacity in many areas. To ensure that we have great systems for disease surveillance, outbreak response, data analytics, digital health, population research and capacity building; to allow policy transformation which are critical pillars that will help us to prepare ourselves with regards pandemic, climate change related health issues but also ensure there is a strong universal health coverage.” Noted Prof. MUVUNYI.
Maria Masereka Christiansen, Health Programme Manager at European Union Rwanda Delegation highlighted the reasons behind choosing Rwanda as a partner.
“Rwanda is prepared, visionary, and committed. Its health system has demonstrated time and again the power of evidence-based, multisectoral coordination, whether in its rapid and effective COVID-19 response, Mpox containment strategy, or its low mortality rates during the recent Marburg outbreak.”
The TRIBE-HUB programme is part of a broader European Union commitment under the Global Gateway Health Package. The regional component of this programme will cover the entire African continent, while country-level support will focus on ten Sub-Saharan African countries, including Burundi, Chad, Malawi, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, and others.
