The symbolic delivery of the material was held this Friday, in Luanda, by the Portuguese Ambassador in Angola, Pedro Pessoa e Costa, at the international airport February 4, to the Secretary of State for Science, Technology and Innovation, Domingos da Silva Neto.
The material is destined for the Faculty of Medicine of the University Mandume Ya Ndemufayo, in the city of Lubango, province of Huila, and consists of a PCR-RT device, which will be installed in the laboratory of the university.
In his intervention, the Portuguese Ambassador in Angola stated that the delivery of the equipment will allow to reinforce the laboratory capacity of Huila province and the Angolan response to the covid-19 pandemic, which has already registered 315 positive cases and 17 deaths, both at the scientific and health levels.
"This is another example of the close and fruitful cooperation and friendship between Portugal and Angola in the field of research and health, which we need to deepen today more than ever, given the current and brutal epidemiological crisis," said Pedro Pessoa e Costa.
According to the Portuguese Ambassador, this initiative is the result of a partnership of several scientific centres of excellence, namely the Centre for Biodiversity and Genetic Resources Research, of the University of Porto, the centre for advanced training for scientists from Portuguese-speaking countries.
"It was also created in Lisbon, under the auspices of UNESCO and the Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the New University of Lisbon and the Foundation for Science and Technology," he added.
In addition to the friendship that unites the two countries, the Portuguese diplomat stressed, the act has in common the Portuguese language, which unites the two peoples "and is concretized daily with this type of initiatives".
The laboratory of the Faculty of Medicine will also be provided with accessory testing equipment, enzymes, reagents, as well as biosafety equipment.
"This capacity building action also includes technical training of health professionals from Huila province, also with a view to Angolan participation in future research projects in the scope of fighting infectious diseases in Africa," said Pedro Pessoa e Costa.
In turn, the Secretary of State for Science, Technology and Innovation of Angola, Domingos da Silva Neto, thanked the gesture and this equipment will strengthen the efforts that the Angolan Government is developing to control the pandemic.
"In this case, we will strengthen the capacity in a province that is on a very strategic axis of our national territory, which is the center-south axis," he said.
The rector of the University Mandume Ya Ndemufayo, Orlando da Mata, stressed that Huíla so far does not carry out covid-19 tests, and the samples are sent to Luanda, so it will be a contribution to the virus screening.
