The coordinator of the National Tuberculosis Control Program in Angola, Ambrósio Disadidi, said this Thursday that the current situation of the disease in the country "is worrying" due to the fact that the new diagnosed cases reach between 10 percent and 12 percent of children under 14 years old.
According to the official, who was speaking on the sidelines of the central act of World Tuberculosis Day, which is celebrated this Thursday, new infections in Angola, especially in the last three years, are around 60,000 cases/year.
But, he pointed out, "this is just the visible part of the iceberg, because there are cases that go undiagnosed, that don't show up in hospitals."
"Regarding deaths, to say that all tuberculosis patients do not die in the hospital, there are cases that die outside, but of those who die in hospitals, for example, in the first quarter of 2021 we had 5.3 percent of deaths, that is to say that out of 100 patients, five died," he told reporters.
Benguela, Namibe, Bengo, Cuando-Cubango, Moxico, Cuanza Norte and Cabinda are the provinces with the highest rates of the disease, which is a public health problem in the country.
"Tuberculosis affects not only adults, but also children, but training is needed to diagnose (...). In the country, the percentage of children with tuberculosis varies between 10 percent and 12 percent of cases diagnosed in children under 14 years of age. ", he noticed.
"It is a concern because a child with tuberculosis can transmit it to another child", said Ambrósio Disadidi.
The rate of abandonment of treatment for the disease, "before 2018, it was 26 percent, then we went to 14 percent and at the moment we are around 10 percent, which is very high", he stressed.
The official, who presented the picture of tuberculosis in Angola, made it known that, in 2019, the country registered 76,782 new cases, in 2020 there were 64,782 new cases and, last year, 63,970 new cases were identified.
Angola currently has 13 sanatoriums, anti-tuberculosis dispensaries, diagnostic and treatment units and tuberculosis treatment units and services in 155 of the country's 156 municipalities.
The hospitals, "which were not sanatoriums, now treat tuberculosis, for example, in Luanda, the General Hospital of Luanda, Américo Boavida, Josina Machel, Pediatric Hospital and even municipal hospitals" already treat tuberculosis cases, he said.
The ceremony, which took place at the Dom Alexandre Cardeal do Nascimento Hospital Complex for Cardiopulmonary Diseases, in Luanda, was chaired by the Secretary of State for the Hospital Area, Leonardo Inocêncio Europeo.
Angola "has adhered to the global strategy to end tuberculosis and has fulfilled and will continue to fulfill its commitment to end tuberculosis", said the minister, in his speech.
The continuous expansion of tuberculosis services, patient follow-up, to reduce the treatment dropout rate and the strengthening of institutional partnerships and with partners were identified as some of the challenges of the sector.
