Sao Tome and Principe awaits presidential decree for health institute
National Institute of Public Health decree-law and statutes are ready but await presidential promulgation after two years.
Sao Tome and Principe is one of two Portuguese-speaking African countries without a National Institute of Public Health, a strategic health system institution.
Bonifácio Sousa, director of the National Center for Endemias, stated that the decree-law and statutes for the institute have been prepared with support from the CPLP network and submitted for approval.
Sousa noted that the country has a National Reference Laboratory capable of producing scientific evidence for the future institute, equipped with human resources and diagnostic tools for molecular biology and other analyses.
Why it mattersSao Tome and Principe's health system needs a National Institute of Public Health to strengthen its response to health challenges, including continental outbreaks like Ebola and MPOX.