"We make a very positive assessment and we have to be proud, Angola was praised in several forums for the assertive measures it took and avoided many deaths and mortality from covid-19", said Sílvia Lutucuta in statements to Lusa and RTP on the sidelines of her intervention in the EurAfrican Forum, taking place this week in Carcavelos, near Lisbon.
"At this time our epidemiological situation is good, we have sporadic cases of covid-19, especially in people with comorbidities and we have had no deaths for more than four months", stressed the minister, days after Angola stopped demanding international passengers to a vaccination certificate arrives in the country.
Angola, concluded the minister, "is at a time to continue to relaunch the economy and take measures in the epidemiological context to bring social and economic peace to the benefit of the population".
Luanda dropped the obligation to present a vaccination certificate or a negative covid test when entering and leaving the national territory, according to the presidential decree of Friday that updates the norms related to covid-19, maintaining only the mandatory use of a mask face in the health units, due to the favorable evolution.
Even so, acknowledged the minister, times were not easy for the continent during the pandemic period, which was first diagnosed in Africa on February 14, 2020.
"During the covid-19 pandemic, Africa had difficult times with the acquisition of vaccines, the lack of medicines, industry and consumable material", recalled Sílvia Lucutuca, in the statements.
To avoid the difficulty in finding vaccines in a possible next pandemic, the Minister of Health said that the continent "is working in several African countries for the installation of a vaccine industry" and stressed that there are nine African countries that compete for the installation of equipment in this area.
"We are trying to attract investment, but we already have nine countries in sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa, Egypt, Rwanda, Ghana, Senegal, with a great tradition in the manufacture of vaccines, such as yellow fever, and South Africa, and other countries that are in the race to place their countries in the vaccine industry", stressed the minister.
In Angola, he specified, "we continue to encourage and seek international partners, funding to implement a pharmaceutical industry, in the broadest sense, and within the scope of public investment programs, we have as a priority the installation of a quality control laboratory and medical means," she said.
In the intervention on 'Strengthening Health Systems: Production and Access to Vaccines, Medicines and Health Technologies', Sílvia Lucutuca recalled that "speculation in international markets, manufacturing difficulties highlighted the need to strengthen internal capacities to prevent diseases with great epidemic potential and for child survival".
The continent, she acknowledged, "faced major logistical, financial and structural challenges in accessing and equitably distributing the vaccine", but they were overcome due to the combined efforts and resilience of countries, she said.
