Rwandan health minister is one of TIME100’s most influential people

Global media company TIME has revealed its 2025 TIME100 Next list, which recognizes 100 up-and-coming leaders from around the world who are influencing the future and defining the next wave of leaders.

Rwanda’s Minister of Health, Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana, is one of those honored.

As the leader of the health ministry since November 2022, Dr. Nsanzimana was hailed as one of the pioneers who redefined impact, influence, and growth in the contemporary world.

He highlighted the crucial indicators that characterize success while considering Rwanda’s health path.

“Maternal and child mortality are the only two indicators you need to look at if you want to rapidly learn how a country’s health system is doing.

Rwanda has achieved remarkable progress on these criteria over the last 25 years,” he remarked.

According to the most recent Annual Health Statistics 2024, Rwanda’s maternal mortality ratio has decreased from 203 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2020 to 105 deaths per 100,000.

Neonatal mortality has also decreased, falling from 19 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2020 to 11 deaths per 1,000 in 2024.

The government is nevertheless committed to bringing those figures even lower, Dr. Nsanzimana continued, “because everyone deserves to survive childbirth and childhood.”

Leaders in global health have also paid attention.

Dr. Nsanzimana spearheaded Rwanda’s response to the 2024 Marburg outbreak, which he called as a model example of successful disease containment, according to Mark Suzman, CEO of the Gates Foundation, who authored the minister’s biography for TIME.

“He understands that tried-and-true solutions must reach as many people as possible, as quickly as possible—they shouldn’t just sit on a shelf gathering dust,” Suzman wrote.

“Helping tens of thousands of pregnant women receive multiple micronutrient supplements to help them and their babies during the critical perinatal period is exactly what he has prioritized as Minister of Health.”

Dr. Nsanzimana, an epidemiologist by profession, oversaw Rwanda’s national HIV and hepatitis programs in addition to serving as the president of the Rwanda Biomedical Center and the University Teaching Hospital of Butare (CHUB).

He is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, has a PhD in epidemiology from the University of Basel, and teaches clinical epidemiology at the University of Rwanda.

In addition to leading significant clinical trials and multi-country research collaborations that continue to impact global health policy, Nsanzimana has authored over 230 scholarly articles.

The TIME100 Next list of the World’s Most Influential Rising Stars was initially released six years ago with the intention of broadening the scope of influence beyond conventional leadership, according to Sam Jacobs, Editor in Chief of TIME.

“Our goal has stayed the same: to manage our role as a significant recorder of leadership and to utilize the TIME100 as a prism to better comprehend our world. In order to do this, we have adopted a broader definition of influence and delved deeply into the fields of artificial intelligence, climate change, charity, health, and creators,” he stated.