U.S. Government Inaugurates New Regional Public Health Laboratory in Hawassa
The newly constructed lab provides external quality assurance services for the entire region’s hospitals and health center laboratories SNNPR, Hawassa- March 19, 2015: The third state-of-the-art regional referral public health laboratory in Ethiopia, constructed by the U.S Government with technical assistance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with funding from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), was formally inaugurated and handed over to the Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples Regional State. Dr. Kesetebirhan Admasu, Minister for Health, Dr. Jeffery Hanson, Country Director, CDC Ethiopia, and Kifle Gebremariam, Vice President and Regional Health Bureau Head of the State of Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples, attended the inauguration ceremony. The regional public health laboratory was constructed at a cost of USD $ 3.1 million (60 million Eth birr) and will serve a population of approximately 18 million in SNN