Addis Ababa — The Ministry of Health has signed an agreement with three institutions to construct 2,000 health centers across Ethiopia five years.

The signatories are the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Women and Social Affairs, Bonga University, and the Russian Pan-African PPP Development Center.

The Russian Pan-African PPP Development Center will cover the estimated more than 250 million USD cost to build the health centers.

Health State Minister, Dr. Dereje Dugma said the project will build 2,000 health centers in five years.

The centers will mainly focus on the health of mothers and children, the elderly, the youth, childbirth, vaccination, family planning and reproductive health.

This will help the efforts to expand access to health services for the community, he said.

According to him, each of the health centers will enable 2,000 to 5,000 community members to access various medical services.

Women and Social Affairs State Minister, Alemitu Umed stated that the project will create capacity to protect the health of mothers and children.

Therefore, the ministry will play the role that is expected to make the project a reality, she affirmed.

Russian Pan-African PPP Development Center CEO, Oksana Mayorova emphasized that the project will create capacity to protect the healthy life of the citizens.

Bonga University President Petros Woldegiorgis stated that the university has been working hard to bring this project to the country.

The president stated that the signing of the agreement with various parties will be done to make it a reality.

Russian Pan-African PPP Development Center has more than 126 years relations in Ethiopia.