A young Rwandan doctor has just started a year’s postgraduate study at the University after arriving in Europe for the first time.
Dr Anita Asiimwe is one of seven female students studying at a Scottish University this year as the first cohort of women on the Rwanda University Scholarship Scheme.
Anita will be studying in the department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University’s medical school where she plans to learn about public health strategies and how these could be applied in Rwanda to tackle the country’s HIV and AIDS epidemic.
Anita explained, "In our tradition girls are not really educated. It is unusual for a girl in Rwanda to receive an education. This scholarship is very valuable as it gives Rwandan women the opportunity to further their education in Scotland."
Anita studied medicine at the National University of Rwanda in Butare. She trained for six years, graduated in 2001 and then was called in by the government to take part in a management programme fighting HIV and AIDS. Anita will be leading her country’s fight against the disease when she returns to Rwanda.
She said, "While I’m here I want to find out about AIDS in Scotland and the public education programmes that you use to tackle the virus. There is a great need for a public education programme in Rwanda. There is however a stark difference in the life expectancy of people who contract HIV in the UK and people who get the virus in Rwanda. The health service in the UK provides therapy but because of extreme poverty in Rwanda, HIV is much more likely to develop into AIDS.
I am delighted to be in Dundee at the University’s Medical School. Everyone has been very friendly. I had an idea that Europe would be so busy that no one would have time to stop and help you but it is in fact the opposite. People here are so welcoming and keep looking after me when I get lost.
I thought Europe would be a sea of office blocks but when we were travelling up to Dundee from Glasgow airport I found that the landscape reminded me of home. Rwanda is called the land of 1,000 hills."
Dr Asiimwe will be taking full time classes over the next year and is planning to join the University’s aerobic class. When she returns home Anita plans to promote educational opportunities for girls.