Public Health Institute to Build Lab with $150m

Sep 11 , 2020

The Ethiopian Public Health Institute has committed 150 million dollars to build state-of-the-art laboratories and carry out capacity building activities in the just-started fiscal year. The construction and capacity-building programmes will be undertaken across the nation with a grant and loan secured from the World Bank. A biosafety level-3 (BSL3) laboratory will be erected on the premises of the institute along with the construction of 15 regional reference laboratories. A BSL3 laboratory is the second-highest possible level, topped only by a BSL4, and includes work on microbes that are either indigenous, exotic or can cause serious or potentially lethal disease through inhalation. Additionally, eight existing laboratories will be supplied with the necessary lab equipment in addition to other capacity-building activities. The construction of the laboratory within the EPHI will be completed in three to four years, while the 15 laboratories are expected to be completed within two years.