Ondjiva – At least 179 community health agents who were engaged in the discovery and monitoring of the 87 cases of guinea worm (Guinea worm), reported in 2023, in the province of Cunene, benefit this month from incentive subsidies.
The information was provided on Sunday by the head for the fight against the disease by the World Health Organization (WHO) in Angola, Mavitindi Sebastião, noting that payments being made within the banking circuit range from AOA 75k to more than AOA 1 million.
According to the WHO official, the process constitutes a mechanism to encourage people who help in the surveillance and identification of gender-related cases in rural communities.
However, he informed that from January to September this year, the WHO confirmed 36 cases of guinea worm in animals (dogs), of the 37 samples sent to the lab in Atlanta (USA), compared to 85 in the same previous period.
He said that the cases were identified in 22 villages in the localities of Omupanda, Oidiva, Ohameke, Oipembe, Ofenda, Olukua and Onanime and Epolo (municipalities of Cuanhama and Namacunde).
Mavitindi Sebastião made it known that the province has not registered the disease in humans for more than 4 years, with the last being registered back in 2020.
Mavitindi Sebastião highlighted that Cunene currently constitutes the "epicenter" of the disease as it is the only province in the country that reports cases of this kind, hence the need to increasingly reinforce surveillance due to its influence in terms of the falimiles socio-economic conditions.
“It is considered a neglected tropical disease, because it is found in tropical areas and mainly affects people from vulnerable communities. The disease has no specific treatment or vaccine for prevention”, he explained.
Meanwhile, he highlighted that Guinea worm is within the scope of the WHO's global objectives, which must be crossed out at all levels by 2030, and it is essential to redouble actions so that Angola is tested as free of the disease.
Angola is one of 6 African countries with an outbreak of Guinea Worm disease, with three confirmed cases in humans and 120 in animals since 2018, the WHO announced.
Chad, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Central African Republic and Cameroon are the other African countries that also report the disease. FI/LHE/SC/CF/DOJ
