Dundo – Angola is to reinforce surveillance along the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to prevent the cholera outbreak plaguing the neighboring country from spreading in eastern Lunda-Norte province, the local governor Deolinda Satula Vilarinho said Monday.
According to the Lunda Norte governor, administrators of 10 municipalities and municipal health officials of the province have been instructed to create logistical and technical conditions to deal with possible cholera cases without the need to evacuate patients to provincial capital.
Deolinda Vilarinho added that municipal administrations have also been instructed to set up health awareness and mobilization teams, working mainly in the neighborhoods along the border with the DRC to teach people about measures to prevent the disease.
"The fact that no cases have been reported in the DRC provinces bordering Lunda-Norte can't make us relax. We need to put prevention and blocking measures in place to prevent the outbreak from reaching Angola," Deolinda Vilarinho said.
The governor said information and instructions on prevention measures are being disseminated in various communities and urged defense and security agencies to be relentless in the fight against illegal immigration to prevent illicit entry and exit of citizens from the DRC and Angola.
According to the Angolan authorities, Angola is on level two of the maximum cholera surveillance alert, due to the emergence of cases in border areas.
Level two means that Angola has not yet registered any cases of cholera, but that it must be on alert and create preparedness and prevention strategies in the event of the outbreak of the disease.
Angola shares a border with the DRC of 770 kilometres, 650 of which are land and 120 river. JVL/HD/AMP
