Sílvia Lutucuta was speaking at the opening of the VI meeting of ministers of Health of the CPLP, which is taking place in Luanda, in order to carry out the official transfer of the presidency of the meeting from Cape Verde to Angola, among other matters.
The official considered it essential to increase the levels of vaccination coverage of the population, through not only the mobilization and availability of a greater amount of vaccines, but also the urgency of making immunization reach the entire eligible population, anywhere.
The head of the Health portfolio stressed that the measures to control the covid-19 pandemic led to a reduction in the vaccination coverage of some important, potentially epidemic diseases, such as polio and yellow fever, with some setback in disease control also taking place. neglected and in primary health care coverage.
"All these factors have weakened our health systems, so it is urgent to make these systems more resilient, functional, responsible and inclusive, community-based and people-centered, capable of offering quality in the provision of services by competent and committed professionals", complemented.
According to the minister, in terms of public health, covid-19 caused an unprecedented emergency scenario, affecting life, livelihoods and health systems in most countries in the world and, in particular, those of the CPLP.
However, highlighted Sílvia Lutucuta, despite the "disastrous effects" caused by covid-19 on the economies and health of countries, it was an "opportunity to improve physical infrastructure, increase trained human resources, strengthen the role of national institutes of Public Health, epidemiological surveillance and population health education".
The minister congratulated Brazil on the creation of an autonomous capacity to produce the vaccine against covid-19, hoping that the CPLP member states will benefit from this technology, as well as from new technologies for the production of third-generation vaccines.
"It was clear that the covid-19 pandemic also showed us that we must strengthen each other to respond effectively and efficiently to public health emergencies and natural disasters, which have ravaged all our Member States," she said.
Sílvia Lutucuta called for the sharing of experiences among the community, given that the pandemic is still “in a critical stage”, through cross-learning and the documentation of positive experiences, which can be replicated in different countries, namely within the framework of the CPLP.
To countries with observer status associated with the CPLP, the official encouraged them to take an interest and support, technically and financially, in the execution of the Action Plan that will be approved at this ministerial meeting.
The agenda includes the presentation of the 'pro-tempore' presidency's program of activities on health, the level of execution of the CPLP Strategic Health Cooperation Plan (PECS-CPLP) 2018-2021, the review of the PECS-CPLP for the period 2022-2026 and the final declaration of Luanda.
