Luanda, 22 June 2022 (TDI): The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) congratulated the holding of Angola’s First National Forum on Primary Health Care and Immunization on Wednesday.
The Forum was organized by the government of Angola. Meanwhile, significant stakeholders also participated in the meeting.
The attendees of the meeting committed that Angola’s quality health services will not leave women and children behind.
According to the data given by the United Nations (UN), 7.3 million people in Angola have needs basic humanitarian support in different fields.
Simultaneously, 3.9 million children are also facing humanitarian challenges in the country. Considering the current situation, in 2022, UNICEF is appealing for $26.6 million to respond to humanitarian needs in Angola.
In this case, the Angola office of UNICEF has been working closely with the Government and Civil society organizations in Angola.
With a comprehensive partnership, UNICEF aims to ensure timely support. The agency especially pays attention to children in need.
UNICEF offers aid with access to water, sanitation, nutrition, education, health, and protection services.
The Development of the Health Sector in Angola
Angola’s health sector, already weak, is facing unprecedented pressure in the face of the pandemic.
According to UNICEF’s 2021 Country Office Annual Report, the overriding challenge faced by Angola was to sustain efforts to control the COVID-19 pandemic.
The main measure taken by the government contained accelerating vaccination and ensuring the provision of basic services.
The health sector has faced a more challenging situation to provide quality care to its population according to COVID-19.
The government has concentrated its limited medical resources on vaccination and other COVID-related areas.
Thus, basic diseases, malnutrition, and other serious health problems have been denied access to medical resources.
Furthermore, in Angola, other primary health concerns include the lack of water, nutrition, and so on.
For instance, according to UNICEF, almost 4 million children (29% of the child population) are experiencing extremely high water vulnerability. Also, the recent drought in southern Angola has posed a serious threat to both food security and primary health.
Therefore, the government of Angola and its partners still have a long way to go to ensure the population’s primary health.
However, undoubted, the successful organization of the First National Forum on Primary Health Care and Immunization is an acceleration for the development of Angola’s health sector this year.
