Established as the Public Health College in 1954, it is located in Gondar, in Amhara Region of Ethiopia.

The Ethiopian government signed a similar agreement with the World Health Organization September of that year.

These agreements specified that the college would consist of four parts: a training school, a hospital, and awraja (regional district) and municipal health departments.

[2] As a result, the college played a significant role in improving public health in Gondar over the next few years.

Each center would be staffed by a health officer, a community nurse, a sanitarian and a laboratory technician, and was expected to care for about 50,000 people.