It was through a note, to which VerAngola had access, that the Ministry of Health denied the aforementioned information. "The Ministry of Health hereby expresses its strongest repudiation and categorically denies news circulating in some digital media according to which a supposed outbreak of cholera 'is causing thousands of victims in Luanda'; that 'hospitals are without reagents' and the Ministry of Health would have 'lost control of the outbreak'", the note reads.
Thus, the ministry states "unequivocally that there are no cases of cholera throughout the entire Angolan territory".
Recalling that "since January 2023, there has been an outbreak of cholera in several SADC countries", two of which border Angola (Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo), the ministry informs that "in February of the same year a Contingency with the preparedness and prevention measures recommended by the World Health Organization".
"In compliance with this plan, rapid response teams were trained and put into level two readiness and pre-positioned in the border municipalities to the north and east of the provinces of Lundas Norte and Sul, Uíge, Moxico, Cuando Cubango and also in Luanda, the hospital materials and equipment necessary for an immediate reaction in the event of the appearance of positive cases", reads the statement.
The ministry also states that epidemiological surveillance teams have also been positioned in other surrounding areas with the aim of immediately detecting and diagnosing suspected cases, as well as "an education and disease prevention campaign has been launched in public media and the network of activists has been activated health promotion with the help of traditional leaders and churches".
According to the ministry, it is "thanks to these and other ongoing preventive measures" that so far "no positive case" of the disease has been detected in the country, having also added that "information to the contrary circulated by entities in bad faith, simply aim to sow insecurity among citizens".
Thus, the guardianship calls for "calm and serenity", reaffirming that Angola "remains free" from this disease until now. Furthermore, it also calls for increased compliance with prevention measures in individual and collective terms, "with special emphasis on personal and environmental hygiene", with the aim of preventing cholera from entering the country.
