Dundo - The health authorities in eastern Lunda-Norte have said they continue to step up epidemiological surveillance measures along the borders with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to block monkeypox from entering the Angolan territory.
Monkeypox begins with spots that rise to form vesicles that contain secretion and can be of different sizes, and after a period the scabs form.
Speaking to the press about the state of preventive measures against the monkeypox outbreak in the DRC, the head of the Public Health and Endemic Diseases Control department, Augusto Miguel, said the control measures consist of periodic training sessions and the distribution of biosafety material.
Miguel added that the measures include notification and investigation, within the first 24 and 48 hours of a death being registered in any public or private health unit, including the collection of blood samples from patients for evaluation and laboratory testing.
In order to make the preventive measures effective, he said that the local government has set up a Provincial Commission, responsible for implementing the Local Contingency Plan, whose actions are also centered on controlling all the diseases that enter the hospital units.
He emphasized that in addition to health technicians, the commission includes agents from the Ministry of the Interior, traditional authorities, healers, therapists and religious leaders, who are receiving training on how to identify suspected cases of monkeypox.
Lunda-Norte shares a 770 square kilometer border with the DRC, 650 of which by land and 120 by river, which puts the authorities on high alert.
The local authorities have ensured security in terms of epidemiological surveillance in the DRC provinces bordering Lunda-Norte, namely Kassai, Kassai Central, Lualaba and Kwangu.HD/DAN/AMP
