Ver Angola

Health

Doctor says lack of sanitation and rising poverty are fueling cholera in the country

The president of the Angolan Doctors' Union (SINMEA), Adriano Manuel, said that the lack of sanitation, increased poverty and lack of investment in preventive health are fueling the emergence of cholera in the country, noting that “there was no shortage of warnings”.

: Ampe Rogério/Lusa
Ampe Rogério/Lusa  

Authorities announced on Tuesday the registration of five deaths in 25 suspected cases of cholera, in the Paraíso neighborhood, municipality of Cacuaco, Luanda province, the Ministry of Health announced.

"The cause of cholera is intrinsically related to basic sanitation, this is the main cause and basic sanitation is related to poverty, [...] poverty has increased in our country and people are fighting for survival and are searching for of food in the trash", Adriano Manuel told Lusa this Wednesday.

According to the doctor, the unhealthy environment, aggravated by irregular garbage collection, and the scarcity of water, especially in peripheral areas of the capital, increase the emergence of various diseases.

"There is no garbage collection, there is no water treatment (...) as water is not treated and food is not treated at the same time, this has a negative influence on us having cholera in our country," he said.

Adriano Manuel considered cholera a public health problem, lamenting the "lack of investment" in the primary health system which, in his view, would "resolve 90 percent" of the major issues related to the country's epidemiological profile.

What "kills the most in Angola is malaria, acute diarrheal diseases, respiratory diseases, all of this with a functional primary health system" would be resolved, he noted.

According to a note from the Ministry of Health, people are showing symptoms of vomiting and watery diarrhea, and the Luanda provincial health office "immediately" activated measures recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The measures, in coordination with other institutions, include disinfection of contaminated areas, identification and tracing of contacts, as well as in-depth epidemiological and laboratory investigation to confirm suspected cases.

For the president of SINMEA, the country needs to implement a strong health education system with support from the media and awareness campaigns promoted by local administrations, believing that the country may not have control over a cholera outbreak.

"There is no system in our country that will be able to control the outbreak, because there are no medicines, we have difficulties with rehydration serum in many hospitals, there is a shortage of medicines in hospitals", he said.

He also pointed out that companies supplying medicines "have not been paid for almost 11 months" and "when this happens there is this shortage of medicines [in hospitals]".

"Unfortunately, the Government insists on inverting the pyramid, that is, investing in a curative system when it should invest in a preventive system and we are seeing the issue of cholera there, there was no lack of warning", concluded the pediatrician.

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