Arielle Kundwa ’28: Intern with Society for Family Health Rwanda Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation Department

Society for Family Health (SFH) Rwanda is a non-profit organization based in Kigali, Rwanda. It started operating in 2012 following a partnership arrangement between Population Services Internation (PSI), the Government of Rwanda (through the Ministry of Health), and USAID. SFH Rwanda aims at improving the health of Rwandan communities with the focus on Reproductive Health, Infectious Diseases, Child Survival, and Non-communicable Diseases.

At SFH Rwanda, I was working on a project entitled HEARTS360 Initiative which is about early detection of hypertension among 45 years and above adults in Nyagatare and Ngoma districts. I was doing data cleaning, response tracking and follow-up, analysis, and presentation. Through this internship, I learnt the great value of data in making informed decisions. I saw how health facilities that regularly reported were fully supported because their needs were clear from the reports, which helped the organization in supporting them. I also obtained advanced skills in using Excel like making Pivot tables, and basic Dashboards. I enjoyed interning at SFH Rwanda this summer. They created a very welcoming and educative space that inspired me to continue my passion for public health and my desire to help the Rwandan community in getting equitable healthcare services through my math and computational skills. 

Internship funded by Nikuradse-Matthews Public Interest Summer Fellowship Fund