-Ministry inaugurates first Nat’l Health Innovation Labs
ADDIS ABABA – The Ministry of Health (MoH) has emphasized the necessity of healthcare innovation expansion for quality health services.
Inaugurating the first National Health Innovation Labs on Thursday, Health Minister Mekdes Daba (MD) said that healthcare innovation expansion strategies are crucial to drive quality improvement in healthcare.
Innovation highly contributes to substantially improve life expectancy by enhancing curative and prevention efforts. It is the central force in driving change in healthcare, as stakeholders across the globe strive to boost the quality, accessibility, and efficiency of healthcare, she said.
The main problem facing the health sector is not lack of innovation, but poor dissemination of innovative ideas, Mekdes stated, stressing that it requires bringing more innovations with committed leadership and amplifying access to finance and innovative ideas.
The health sector always needs applying and expanding new innovations for evolving and existing diseases by capacitating investment and applying modern working systems to reach more people. Moreover, institutionalizing the working systems is vital to expand these innovations across the country, she noted.
For his part, Innovation and Technology (MinT) State Minister Bayisssa Bedada (PhD) said that the approval of startup proclamation has brought new opportunities for innovators.
Over the past years, Ethiopia has been promoting to ensure knowledge-based and innovation-led economic transformation mainly through creating a conducive environment for innovators, he indicated.
It performed various tasks starting from telecom sector liberalization to implementation of digital strategy, homegrown reform agenda and 10-years development plan. The country has laid foundations for digital infrastructural development, mainly expansion of networks in urban and rural areas to encourage innovators, Bayisssa noted.
The Ministry has recognized health institutions that highly contributed in facilitating health sector innovations.
BY TSEGAYE TILAHUN
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD SATURDAY 19, July 2025
