Japan to Spend $17.4 Million in Support of Ethiopia’s Infections Disease Control Project

Ethiopia and Japan this week reached a $17.4 million worth agreement which the Ministry of Finance of Ethiopia called “a landmark bilateral agreement.”

According to the Ministry, it is intended for supporting the government’s infection disease control  in the country.

Ahmed Shide, Ethiopia’s Minister for Finance, and Shibata Hironori, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Ethiopia, signed the agreement in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. Ethiopia’s Minister for health, Mekdes Daba, and Mr. Shintaro Takano, Deputy Resident Representative of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Ethiopia Office, also attended the signing ceremony, based on information from the Ministry.

While Ahmed Shide sees the initiative as a “strategic investment” in the health care system, it is indicated that it will be spent on the construction of “specialized facility at St. Peter [Hospital and equipping it with modern diagnostic and treatment technologies, Ethiopia will be better prepared to manage and contain infectious diseases—both now and in the future.”

From what the Ministry of Finance says, improving quality of care, strengthening the prevention of infectious disease and capacity building for long term medical area priority areas for spending the funding.

Monitoring and evaluation of projects like these have been raising skepticism. There have been accusations from the opposition quarter that government spending of development funds lacks transparency. Some went even further  to claim that the government is spending aid money to finance the ongoing war in the Amhara and Oromia regions of Ethiopia.

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