Integrated Care Model Developed by the Rwanda Biomedical Center for Decentralization of Psychological Interventions during Commemoration of Genocide against Tutsi in Rwanda

Abstract

Global and national burden of mental disorders has been increasingly recognized in terms of responding to the need for explicit, cost-effective, evidence-based yet culturally sensitive interventions (WHO, 2013). In 2004 the first official commemoration of genocide against Tutsi in Rwanda, which included mental health  interventions, was held in Kigali. At that time the mental health support was reactive, centralized, and overwhelmed by the need for their services. In 2013 the Rwandan Biomedical Center (RBC), of the Ministry of Health, created a decentralized network of well-trained mental health responders throughout Rwanda. The objective of this decentralized network was to provide most of the care in the community and avoid using higher levels of care. This article reviews the  infrastructure and evaluates the new decentralized  community-based system that is now utilized throughout Rwanda during commemoration of Genocide against Tutsi in Rwanda.

Key words: Integrated Care Model, psychological Interventions, genocide, Rwanda