Rwanda Hospital Design Standards

Poor health infrastructure will continue to expose society to threats of epidemic and social injustice. An individual exemplary hospital or medical facility is not enough to achieve systemic change, and poorly implemented prototypical buildings can cause disastrous effects. The Ebola outbreak in Liberia and Sierra Leone is a perfect example of the risk posed by fragile and poorly designed healthcare infrastructure.

In 2012 Rwanda laid out plans to build several new hospitals, across its thirty districts, guided by a set of design principles that could improve health outcomes and tailored to the specific needs of each location and community. 

MASS partnered with the Rwanda Ministry of Health to create a model of high-quality infrastructure that can be easily adapted to the needs of an individual project, with a transformative effect on the way health infrastructure is developed globally. These District Hospital Design Standards were later piloted by Munini District Hospital and Nyarugenge District Hospital, modeling the implementation of a design framework that is adaptable to a hospital’s unique context and program. Better design and construction processes will produce not only better health outcomes, but also economic, educational, environmental, and emotional impacts to the community.