. Dr Kasonde
By MWANGALA LISELI –
HEALTH Minister Joseph Kasonde has said Zambia had proposed to the African Union (AU) to be the host of the African Centre for Diseases Control and Prevention.
Dr Kasonde said the centre would influence public health policies and programmes in the sub-region.
The minister was speaking during a briefing in Lusaka yesterday. He said this would be an advantage for the country as it already had a Tropical Diseases Research Centre (TDRC) with academically high level expertise.
Dr Kasonde said Zambia also had centres of clinical excellence that provided a suitable environment for conducting research on priority issues of public concern.
“I am happy to announce that the AU Executive Committee welcomed our proposal and recommended that we present a comprehensive submission on TDRC and justify how it fits to be a desirable institution and how it would contribute to building the regional capacities to respond to public health issues,” he said.
The submission would be presented during the AU Assembly to be held in June this year.
Dr Kasonda also said the Ministry of Health would continue focusing on the construction of 650 health posts to be built in the country’s 10 provinces which would support and strengthen health delivery systems.
The health posts would cater for 500 households in rural areas and 1,000 households in urban areas.
