Africa-Press – Angola. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Téte António, defended this Monday, in Luanda, the creation of a united front of SADC member states, to prevent, in a sustainable way, the widespread spread of cholera and other diseases in the Southern Region of Africa.
When opening the extraordinary session of the Council of Ministers of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), via video conference, the head of Angolan diplomacy said that the scenario calls for a coordinated regional response, to face the challenge.
He maintained that no country can combat a disease like cholera alone, which “does not respect borders”.
Since January 2023, the SADC region has been plagued by a cholera outbreak, with cases recorded, until last Sunday, in five countries, namely Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Téte António, acting president of the SADC Council of Ministers, said that the region needs to prioritize investments in health infrastructure and health promotion, in order to create healthier communities.
He hoped that the meeting would define concrete actions that would help Heads of State to make political decisions that would make it possible to advance, in a sustainable manner, towards the eradication of cholera by 2030.
He stressed that as long as the region demonstrates resilience and collective strength in the face of other challenges, such as HIV/AIDS and Covid-19, there will be notable progress to prevent and mitigate the devastating impacts of these pandemics.
Cholera is an acute intestinal infectious bacterial disease, transmitted by direct fecal-oral contamination or by ingestion of contaminated water or food, with diarrhea and dehydration as its main symptoms, which can lead to death.
Angola is at level two of maximum epidemic prevention alert, due to the emergence of cholera cases in border countries such as Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
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