Accra, July 4, The Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) is assisting the Ministry of Health (MOH) to establish and strengthen an in-service training system for the Ministry to improve competence of health workers and quality of health services. The JICA support is to help move forward the proposed in-service training programme envisaged in the Ministry's Medium Term Programme. Under the programme, it is expected that health workers at all levels will receive at least one formal training every two to three years. A memorandum of understanding on the system was signed in Accra today by Dr. Eunice Brookman-Amissah, Minister of Health and Dr. Kijo Deura, the leader of a three-man Japanese Expert team currently in the country to start the project. Dr. Brookman-Amissah said the five-year project will help increase coverage of health workers participating in regular, timely and relevant in-service training programmes, using Maternal and Child Health as an entry point. The project, she said, will develop training systems at the national level at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital which will benefit all health workers. It will also support the implementation of training programmes in the Brong Ahafo, Western and Volta Regions. For the first year which covers June 1997 to March 1998, JICA will allocate 220,000 dollars for equipment and 120,000 dollars for infrastructural development at the national and regional levels.