Spotlight series: The Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI)

12th January 2015
EPHI logoThis week we turn our attention to The Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) for our Spotlight series. The series profiles research organisations based in developing countries.

The Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) was established to protect and promote the health of the Ethiopian people by addressing priority public Health and Nutrition problems.

EPHI aims to improve the health and nutritional status of the Ethiopian population. Its research agenda focuses on both health and nutrition in Ethiopia, through the following three areas of work:
  • Nutrition and health research: Public health research plays an important role by generating and disseminating evidence based information to improve the health of the general public in Ethiopia. Topics covered include: Bacteriology, parasitology and zoonosis; HIV and TB; nutrition and food science; traditional and modern medicine; vaccine and diagnostics production; technology transfer and research translation; and health systems research.
  • Public health emergency management: Public health emergency management is the process of anticipating, preventing, preparing for, detecting, responding to, controlling and recovering from consequences of public health threats in order that health and economic impacts are minimised.
  • Quality laboratory system:This includes assessing and monitoring of public laboratory capacity, coordination and communication between laboratories, and capacity building through training and promotion of laboratory standards. The scope of lab system create a functional network of laboratories in Ethiopia, able to obtain accurate, high quality laboratory results on new, emerging and re-emerging infections exist in the country.
These key priorities make the institute’s role unique in the context of Ethiopia.

In the near future topics such as national micronutrient status, food fortification, bio-fortification, complementary food development, food safety, environmental Hygiene and sanitation, climate change and environmental health are likely to become more prominent in EPHI’s work.