Primary school French teacher Aloys Butoyi has been passionate about educating children since he became a teacher over 20 years ago.
Mr. Butoyi teaches at the Excel School in Musanze, Rwanda. Like most teachers, he remembers the COVID-19 pandemic as an incredibly difficult time. Schools were closed for two months, and even after they re-opened, the threat of the new virus had a profound impact on his classroom.
“It was complicated to teach when you were wearing masks,” he says. “And then you were scared…that maybe you could pass on COVID to a child.”
Mr. Butoyi says he was the first person in his school to sign up to get vaccinated.
“I thought it was very important, because if you're not in good health you can't work, you can't live,” he says.
In early 2021, countries were racing to roll out COVID-19 vaccination programs. Today Rwanda is widely considered to have had a highly effective vaccine roll-out.
The country received its first COVID-19 vaccines in February 2021, and by July 2022, 8.8 million people, or 67% of the population, had already received two doses. Rwanda achieved its two-year goal of vaccinating 60% of the population in just 17 months.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention designated the Rwanda Biomedical Centre as one of two “centers of excellence” for its COVID-19 vaccine roll-out. The Kigali-based research center went on to support other countries across the continent to implement their own COVID-19 vaccination plans.
Deputy Director General of the Rwanda Biomedical Centre, Noella Bigirimana, says one of the key factors of Rwanda’s successful COVID-19 response, including the rapid vaccine roll-out, were digital health systems and infrastructure the country already had in place.
For example, Rwanda had been using health management information system DHIS2 since 2012.
DHIS2 is a tool used to collect, validate, analyze and present health data. It is an open-source software and has a flexible user interface that does not require technical computer programming skills.
Ms. Bigirimana says the system was vital in the country’s overall response to COVID-19, not just the national vaccine roll-out.
“DHIS2 was critical,” she says. “We leveraged it for contact-tracing, diagnosis and keeping track of vaccination and treatment.”
She explains that health workers used the DHIS2 system to record test results from health centers, clinics and people’s homes from across the country. The system then aggregated the data, which allowed decision-makers to identify outbreaks and rapidly respond as well as monitor the virus’ evolution. DHIS2 was also used to monitor vaccine stocks, track vaccinations and issue individual vaccination certificates.
Dr. Philbert Muhire is the Director General of the Ruhengeri Referral Hospital, not far from Mr. Butoyi’s school.
He saw firsthand how DHIS2 not only supported the country’s response to COVID-19, but also made it easy for health workers to adapt to the demands of the new virus.
“It was simple to use because [health workers] had already been exposed to the system,” he says. “It was user friendly; it was well-displayed with the information that was needed.”
Rwanda’s digital health systems, including the DHIS2 platform, are supported by several partners, including the Global Fund and the Rockefeller Foundation through the Data Science Catalytic Fund (DSCF) initiative. The initiative, which combines technology, expertise, technical assistance and capacity building, aims to improve access to health care and community health information systems in four countries: Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Uganda.
The DSCF initiative is part of the Global Fund’s overall work helping to strengthen digital health systems. This work includes investments of more than US$720 million into health management information systems in 95 countries, including the DHIS2 platform in Rwanda, since 2014.
These investments have been essential in making vital health data on HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria rapidly available to guide decision makers, as well as to monitor and respond rapidly to other disease outbreaks. When COVID-19 first started, Global Fund investments supported 41 countries to incorporate COVID-19 surveillance into their existing digital health data systems to fight the global pandemic.
Mr. Butoyi is one of the millions of people who have been double-vaccinated against COVID-19 in Rwanda. “We regained our courage and have regained confidence in our health,” he says.
DHIS2 remains an important component of Rwanda’s digital health infrastructure, which has been built over the last decade.
© 2026 The Global Fund
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