Portrait of community health worker Nyirahabimana Verena (40), in her home in Rugunga village, Gisagara district, Rwanda, on August 19, 2019. Verena is one of more than 2,000 community health workers in the district who supplement the work of hospitals by treating more than 50 per cent of malaria cases, according to the Rwanda Biomedical Center. "I decided to become a health worker because it was a way for me to connect with my community," said Verena, a mother of eight who has worked as a community health worker for 21 years. "Whenever I heal someone and see them well it makes me so happy."

Rwanda's health gains in the last decade are among the world's most dramatic. Health insurance - called Mutuelle de Santé - is nearly universal, life expectancy rose from 29 to 68 years between 1994 and 2015, and mortality during childbirth fell by 70% over the same period.