Luanda — Angola has recorded 69,261 cases of tuberculosis in the last two years, 10,739 fewer compared to the period between 2017 and 2019, health minister Sílvia Lutucuta said on Tuesday in Luanda.
The minister who was speaking at the end of the 1st Ordinary Session of the National Commission for Fight against HIV/AIDS and Major Endemic Diseases (CNLS-GE) said that, between 2017 and 2019, the country had a record of 80,000 patients with tuberculosis.
She highlighted that "in 2019, the health sector began to register a downward curve compared to the measures taken to fight endemic diseases, reinforced in 2020 with the prevention actions against the Covid-19 pandemic."
The results of the National Tuberculosis Control Program (PNCT) indicate, between 2018 and 2022, the expansion of the service network from 13 to 36 hospitals, which represents a total of 6.3% to 17.3% at national, provincial and municipal level units.
Sílvia Lutucuta added that the number of provinces with the capacity to diagnose cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis went up from 14 to 18, as well as municipalities with care services from 111 to 155, corresponding to a coverage of 95% throughout the country.
Regarding trypanosomiasis, Sílvia Lutucuta reported that there was a reduction, between 2012 and 2022, from 179 to 44 cases, with the goal of eradicating or decreasing by 2030.
Trypanosomiasis, the scientific name for sleeping sickness, is a disease prevailing in certain rural areas with dense forests.
HIV/AIDS
In the case of HIV/AIDS, Sílvia Lutucuta said that 310,000 patients were under the control of the health authorities, of which 190,000 were female, with a prevalence rate of two percent.
To cope with the numbers, according to the minister, the health units increased their testing capacity to 116 percent, in 2022, compared to 2017, and the services of the Program for the Prevention of Transmission of HIV from Mother to Child, from 650, in 2017 to 881 in 2022, as well as expanding access to viral load and early childhood diagnosis to 18 provinces.
The minister highlighted as challenges the inclusion of pregnant women and women living with HIV in social empowerment projects implemented by the Executive (Kwenda, PREI, PRODESI) and the increase in access to diagnostic, treatment and care services for all children exposed before two months old.
Fight against malaria
Regarding the National Program to Combat Malaria, the minister highlighted the decrease, from 2017 to 2019, of deaths by more than 50% and the increase from 35% to 40% in the distribution of insecticide-treated mosquito nets to households, an expected target by the PDN 2018-2022.
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According to the minister, in the same period there was a reduction in cases of malaria, from 13,000 to 12,000.
"The distribution of mosquito nets has increased since 2008, with routine and mass distribution. The last campaign started on April 5, 2022, with 90% of the provinces already benefited", she emphasized.
Also noteworthy is the increase in municipalities with teams for integrated vector control, which raised from 37% in 2018 to 73% in 2022, surpassing the target set out in the 2018-2022 PDN, as well as the coverage of pregnant women receiving preventive malaria treatment from 19% in 2017 to 50% in 2022.
Silvia Lutucuta clarified that although the PDN 2018-2022 set a target for a malaria mortality rate of 43.5 deaths per thousand people, in 2017, to 10 deaths per thousand people, in 2022, there was no variation in the execution between the years 2017 to 2022.
The CNLS-GE, coordinated by the Vice-President of the Republic, Esperança da Costa, has the attributions of coordinating and guiding the entire struggle policy, promoting the participation Government partners, mobilizing the necessary resources and developing actions likely to improve knowledge about HIV/AIDS and the Major Endemic Diseases that plague the country. FMA/SC/DOJ
