According to a statement from the Ministry of Health, to which VerAngola had access, the Minister of State for the Social Area, Maria do Rosário Bragança, chaired the committee meeting, which was also attended by the Secretary of State for Public Health, Carlos Pinto de Sousa, representatives of various government sectors and partner organizations involved in combating the disease.
"The emergency meeting aimed to intensify control and prevention measures to contain the cholera outbreak that has been affecting several regions of the country for three months," reads the note, which adds that "the current epidemiological situation and the alignment of integrated strategies to reinforce the response were analyzed."
On the occasion, Maria do Rosário Bragança assured that the Executive will continue to intensify preventive measures against this disease, aiming to prevent the emergence of new cases, especially in the most affected areas.
The minister also called for everyone to work together to 'put a stop' to the spread of this disease.
"To make an appeal (...) to our entire society. This is an action that is the responsibility of the executive, the central executive, the executive at local level, the provincial governors, the municipal administrators, the communities, the support of churches, traditional authorities, community leaders and our youth, students, university students. If we provide properly treated water, but if the lack of hygiene that we have seen continues to exist, we will not be able to overcome this epidemic outbreak", she pointed out.
"Given the developments we have been seeing in this cholera outbreak, which is causing us great concern, the government has taken action that effectively aims to stop, reduce and even prevent deaths, but the action has not proven to be completely safe enough to produce these results. At this meeting, a set of conclusions were reached that will certainly enable us to reverse this situation," she pointed out.
According to the minister, cholera "is an infectious disease whose manifestation results from the intervention of multiple factors largely centered on the consumption of inadequately treated water, on the one hand, and also many hygiene problems that, to a large extent, are also related to environmental sanitation problems."
"(...) Therefore, all citizens must help in this fight, adopting preventive measures such as washing hands with soap and water, avoiding open defecation, drinking treated water, among other actions", recalled the minister, having also asked parents and other agents of society to contribute to teaching children about hygiene care.
It is worth remembering that, since the beginning of the outbreak, in January of this year, the country has already surpassed the barrier of 12 thousand cases. The latest data indicate a cumulative total of 473 deaths and 12,368 cholera infections.
