Butajira – July 04, 2025 (NIPN/EPHI) - The Director General (DG) of the Central Ethiopia Regional Public Health Institute (CERPHI), Mr. Mamush Hussien, said that the close support his institute is receiving from the federal offices would boost the promising efforts being made in the health sector.
Mamush said this yesterday while closing the three-day training workshop given by senior data experts drawn from the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI), the National Information Platform for Nutrition (NIPN-Ethiopia), and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) for the research, data, and nutrition experts who are serving in various health sectors of the Central Ethiopia Region (CER).
Mamush stated that CERPHI is truly grateful for the support provided by the federal offices, such as EPHI. He said that CERPHI was established from scratch. “But the support we have been receiving from the federal offices like EPHI and the Armauer Hansen Research Institute (AHRI) encourages us to double up our promising efforts,” he said.
“CER has a high burden of disease, and as it is close to the capital, Addis Ababa, supporting this new region is essential. Strengthening CER means strengthening the country,” Mamush stated.
The DG of CERPHI extended his appreciation to the data experts who provided the training to the researchers in the region. He said that the research experts who received the training should try their hand at formulating the policy briefs for policy makers. Mamush also thanked the EPHI top management team for making decision to donate laptop computers and Wi-Fi access points.
NIPN-Ethiopia Coordinator, Dr. Aregash Samuel, said during the closing session of the training workshop that the researchers who were fortunate enough to get knowledge and skill should strive hard to apply it to their data processing work. “I call upon you all to implement what you have acquired here. Make sure you are ready to transfer what you have received here to your colleagues,” she said.
Participants have also expressed gratitude over the initiative taken by EPHI/NIPN to offer the training workshop. They said that the training workshop should have been given to more research experts and for extended days. This helpful training needs longer days. The broad subject of STATA cannot be finalized within a short period of time, according to them.
Keyredin Nuriye is a vice dean of the Health Science College at Wolkitie University, in Guraghe Zone. He earned his MSc in Maternal and Reproductive Health. Keyredin said regarding the training that he was lucky to get trained on STATA for three days. “CERPHI has given us the opportunity to be part of this important training. What we received during the training is very helpful in preparing and analyzing health and nutrition data sets. It is very pleasing that the trainers are knowledgeable and have ample experience in the field. But it would have been much better if the training lasted a few days longer,” Keyredin said.
Fakiya Elias is from Kebena Special Woreda of CER. She is one of the two female trainees. Fakiya, a BSc graduate, is serving her Woreda as coordinator of Public Health Emergency Management (PHEM). She said that the training was better than she expected. “I was impressed by the close support of the trainers and the fact that we were made to try our hands at the exercises. I liked the way they tried to help us. This made me concentrate on the training,” she said.
Fakiya further said that the training was very important for those who were processing their data collection using hard copy. “Hereafter we will do our data processing activities using software. We will also pass this to our colleagues in our office,” she said.
Dr. Samuel Yohannis is working at data analysis and synthesis section of CERPHI. He said that the training workshop organized by EPHI/NIPN was timely and very helpful for research experts like him. “We need to formulate policy briefing hereafter. The training has given us knowledge and skill to think of writing up our policy briefing for decision makers,” he said.
Dr. Samuel stated that the training would help them to analyze data using STATA software. “We had sufficient knowledge and skill on how to use STATA. The trainers were very supportive and friendly to approach. This helped us to make the training session interactive,” he said.
He further noted that as CERPHI is a young institute, it needs special support from others, such as EPHI. “The two have established a good relationship. Their close relationship will help us to have more training on grant writing and others. We also need to establish relationships with others. Therefore, the issue of grant writing is very important here,” he noted.
Eden Ahmed is a data manager of PHEM at CERPHI. She holds her MSc in computer science. What she got from the training is very helpful for her in processing her data work, according to her.
“The training workshop given on STATA helps me to process data and do quality assurance on the process. We have never received such training before. This is a good opportunity for us. I am thinking of passing this to my colleagues at the office,” Eden said.
She further commented that enough time should have been allotted for such a vast subject. “The STATA training is vast. It cannot be covered within a short period of time. It would have been better if the organizers had allotted more days and given the opportunity to other colleagues,” she said.
Team from EPHI, NIPN-Ethiopia and IFPRI involved in offering the training workshop conducted for the last three days. Briefings on the general activities of NIPN-Ethiopia, rapid evidence review, policy briefs, an overview of STATA and nutrition information communication and dissemination were included, among others, during the training workshop sessions.
Thirty-two researchers from different CERPHI and the health bureau duty stations participated in the three-day training and workshop held at Bright Hotel in Butajira Town, 130 kilometers from the capital, Addis Ababa. (NIPN/EPHI)
