As part of the visit to the CDC Africa, the Health Minister took the opportunity to announce that the country is planning to build a center of this type, although "smaller in size", with the aim of monitoring epidemics in detail.
"We had the opportunity to tour (...) the areas here in this control center and we visited the emergency control command center, which is a structure that, in Angola, we are also creating conditions to have, on a smaller scale, a disease control center with all the technology that is available here so that, on the one hand, we can have detailed monitoring of epidemics that arise, of what we have to do to prevent them, and how we can also control these epidemics and also strengthen our laboratory capacity and human resources", she said, quoted by Rádio Nacional de Angola (RNA).
Sílvia Lutucuta also advocated greater collaboration between Angola and this center located in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia).
"Collaboration with the CDC is fundamental for us, in addition to the WHO we have the Africa CDC and together we can fight for better health here on our continent," she said.
The minister also considered that the countries of the continent must mobilize towards the same objectives, and there is a need to reinforce the local capacity for the production of vaccines and medicines.
"All countries have to mobilize towards the same objectives, we have to reinforce our local capacity to produce vaccines and medicines and, for all this, we have to reinforce or work on finding sources of financing, because it is important that we continue to invest more and more in health, because investing in health is an investment, not an expense," she said, quoted by RNA.
"We already have three young Angolans working here in strategic locations, but we will continue to raise awareness among more Angolan professionals with the necessary requirements to join the ranks of CDC Africa and, not only, other international African organizations and also others around the world," she added.
It is worth remembering that the President of the Republic and also President of the African Union (AU), João Lourenço, completed a working trip to Ethiopia over the last two days. On Thursday, João Lourenço participated in the official handover ceremony between the outgoing and new AU commissions, while on Friday he visited the Africa CDC and met with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali.
