"Unfortunately, the community health situation in Angola is difficult and complicated, mainly because community engagement is not valued and financial investment for the implementation of community actions is very limited. These two scenarios are compromising efforts towards community health resilient and sustainable", said the president of ANASO, a non-governmental organization, António Coelho.
The official, who was speaking at the opening of a workshop on "Management of the Community Response to AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in Angola", pointed to the social determinants of health, namely poverty, access to drinking water and the illiteracy rate as factors that contribute to the worsening of diseases in the country.
According to António Coelho, Angola's epidemiological profile "is still dominated by communicable diseases", pointing to the need to understand that health "is not just the absence of disease, but also well-being".
António Coelho advocated that we work "on the hospitalized response, creating more hospitals and training more health technicians", but, above all, that we start "investing in preventive health, fundamentally through information and education actions to change behavior".
"We must create conditions to reduce the hospital burden and invest more in high-impact interventions with a focus on disease prevention," he noted.
The president of ANASO presented the current picture of the three diseases in the country, highlighting that Angola is a country with high transmission of malaria (the main cause of deaths in the country), which represents "around 29 percent of the causes of demand for health care".
Tuberculosis has a relatively high morbidity rate, "with an incidence rate of 200.6 per 100 thousand inhabitants and Angola is one of the most affected countries in the world", he said.
In relation to HIV/AIDS, the association leader noted that the prevalence of 2.2 percent is one of the lowest in the region, considering, however, that in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Angola "is the country which records more new infections, mainly in children aged between zero and 14".
He also highlighted the importance of the workshop, which runs until Thursday, in Luanda, highlighting that the meeting, which has the support of the Global Fund, aims to contribute to the management of the community response to these three diseases, based on the analysis contexts, identifying challenges, establishing strategies, strengthening partnerships and defining a roadmap.
António Coelho pointed out that the meeting takes place at a time when the country is working on a national policy proposal and a national strategic plan on community health, "instruments that will regulate community health actions in Angola and in which society organizations civil society are keen to contribute to its preparation".
