Cameroon and the United States signed a financing agreement to a tune of FCFA 800 million for the rehabilitation of the National Public Health Laboratory in Yaounde, the capital city of Cameroon, APA noted.

The rehabilitation of the structure expected to last for a year will become a reference unit in epidemiological surveillance.

Actually the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to this rehabilitation dates back to mid-May 2013 when the two parties, as part of a program called President’s Emergency Plan for Assistance to AIDS (PEPFAR), was instituted with an annual contribution of 10 million in 2010 to $30 million to Cameroon in 2013.

Yaounde lab will house several capacity-building units for training laboratory personnel in the country, to ensure the quality of the analysis by specialists.

It will also serve as the reference laboratory for the early diagnosis of HIV / AIDS in children from the age of 6 weeks, against 15-18 months now, so as to enable faster care for newborns infected with this virus.