Dr. Agnes Binagwaho spoke to the HMS community on March 11, 2013 about how Rwanda's public sector has prioritized health outcomes among the poorest and most vulnerable. The video recording of the talk may be viewed here. Since 2000, Rwanda has deployed disease-specific donor funding for overall systems strengthening and broken down barriers to accessing care and has achieved some of the steepest declines in premature mortality documented anywhere.

Dr. Binagwaho is a pediatrician and has served as Minister of Health of Rwanda since 2011. After practicing medicine for over 15 years, Dr. Binagwaho joined the National AIDS Control Commission as Executive Secretary in 2002, after which she served as Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health from 2008 to 2011. Dr. Binagwaho is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. She chairs the Rwanda Pediatric Society and is a member of the Global Task Force on Expanded Access to Cancer Care and Control in Developing Countries. She serves on the Lancet commissions for Women and Health, and Investing in Health, and has published over 60 peer-reviewed articles. Dr. Binagwaho received an Honorary Doctorate of Sciences from Dartmouth College in 2010, and is presently pursuing her Ph.D. at the National University of Rwanda.