Construction of first national public health training centre in Ethiopia begins

Construction has begun on Ethiopia's National Public Health Training Centre, the first of its kind to be established in the country at a cost of US$4 million (RM12.19 million).

Heath Minister Dr Tedros Adhanom and US Ambassador to Ethiopia Donald Booth laid the foundation stone for the new training centre at the premises of Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute (EHNRI).

The centre will be a state-of-the-art facility to be used as a training and support hub for Ethiopia’s national public health monitoring, research and laboratory network.

The US President’s Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) committed to the cost of the project, while the Atlanta-based Centres for Disease Control (CDC) will manage the construction of the ground and three facilities which are expected to be completed by April 2014. Dr. Tedros said although Ethiopia had been registering tremendous achievements in the health sector, a lack of skilled power and the migration of professionals were hindering the country’s efforts to improve its health services.

He said the construction of the centre would provide a highly facilitated training environment and help the institute to provide standard training in various fields.

Booth said Montoday's groundbreaking for the centre was a visible example of how the historical investments in HIV/AIDS through PEPFAR could benefit the health system in general.

He said the new training centre would house numerous training rooms and multimedia technology to help create a conducive environment for excellence in education and training.