Winneba (C/R), May 28, GNA - The Effutu Municipal Chief Executive, Nii Ephraim has said that developing health human resources by providing quality pre-service education is vital to achieving the Millennium Development Goals and poverty reduction.

He said this at the launch of the Students Representative Council (SRC) and Alumini Week Celebration of the Winneba Community Health Nurses Training School on Friday.

The theme for the celebration was 93quality pre-service Education: the need for adequate infrastructure in the contemporary health system".

He said skilled manpower is a major determinant of the developmental requirement for any country.

He said: 93It is in line with this vision that the NDC government under the leadership of His Excellency President J. E. A. Mills for the past two years has embarked on massive infrastructure development for sustainable economic and social development".

Nii Ephraim said available statistics indicates that about 38 of the 47 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa do not meet the World Health Organisation recommended minimum requirement of at least 100 nurses per 100,000 people.

This, he said, can be attributed to many factors including inadequate infrastructure and other logistics to train more health personnel, he said.

He therefore a welcomed the fact that the SRC, the alumini and the entire student body could come together to build a hostel.

The Principal of the School, Mrs Emma Tagoe, welcoming the past students, urged those at school to take their studies seriously to enable the school achieve academic excellence.