KIGALI, Rwanda – When Aliyu Attahiru took over as head of the Biomedical Laboratory Sciences Department at the Kigali Health Institute in early 2008, he faced an immediate challenge: a badly out-of-date curriculum for the Bachelors of Science degree program.

With the old lesson plans, his students would be ill prepared for their work in laboratories around Rwanda, especially in running tests on infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS. But in a program funded by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, volunteers from the American Society for Clinical Pathologists (ASCP) were lined up to help update the curriculum. Their new lesson plans were put in place in January 2009.

``It really helped us,’’ Attahiru said. ``Now the curriculum is the most developed of its kind in Rwanda. And the work done by the ASCP volunteers makes our work much easier.’’

Attahiru, a 40-year-old father of two from Nigeria, said the American volunteers also introduced new ways of teaching, including giving instruction to the staff on how to create lessons on PowerPoint. The ASCP teams also brought laptop computers and projectors for the Institute’s staff.

Students give high marks
``The students’ teacher evaluation forms showed a big difference this past year from previous years,’’ he said. ``They said they benefitted more this year, and appreciated the new teaching methods.’’

Wendy Arneson, a fulltime ASCP consultant based in Milwaukee, traveled to Rwanda three times in 2008 to assist Attahiru and his program. Arneson, who also has worked for ASCP in Ethiopia, Tanzania, and Kenya, said that teaching the instructors in Rwanda should multiply the impact of introducing new lab technology.

``It’s one thing teaching the current lab personnel to use the equipment,’’ she said. ``But it’s much more sustainable if you have college professors teaching those same techniques to lab students.’’

In a series of workshops, Arneson and her colleagues worked on the biomedical laboratory curriculum that included courses on molecular biology and applied immunology; demonstrated ways to conduct various lab tests; and trained the teachers on how to make their lecture and lab presentations more exciting and effective for students.

No quick fix, but a start
``I think we have exposed a lot of people to some new technologies,’’ she said. ``I’m not naively expecting to see everything perfect immediately. These things do take time. But I left Rwanda feeling very satisfied because I can see that the teachers and the students are learning these new concepts. I saw teachers explain principles of lab work very well, and I saw the students excelling in exams.’’

Attahiru moved to Rwanda in early 2007 as part of Nigeria’s Technical Aid Corps program, a two-year assignment underwritten by the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs. When his time ran out, the Institute hired him. He’s happy to stay.

He now wants to see the benefits from his work – when his students begin taking jobs in laboratories in Rwanda or beyond.

``It is a bright future for them,’’ he said. ``If you have a degree in biomedical laboratory science, you are likely to get employment in Rwanda or somewhere else. They will do very good work in the laboratories.’’