Luanda, June 29, 2022 – The Ministry of Health (MINSA) and its strategic partners, today in Luanda, defined a regular cooperation mechanism for the coordination of initiatives and information sharing, aimed at strengthening primary health care and reaching of the Sustainable Development Goals.
The consultation platform, which is intended to be proactive and active, was established during the 1st meeting of the Inter-Agency Coordination Committee, a forum for coordination between the government and health partners, promoted by the Ministry of Health, with the support of the World Organization of Health (WHO).
According to the Minister of Health, Dr Silvia Lutucuta, taking into account the economic situation that the country is facing, aggravated by the COVID-19 pandemic that has seriously affected the health of the populations, it is necessary to strengthen partnerships to accelerate initiatives aimed at improving health in Angola.
“Angola is strongly committed to strengthening the national health service in terms of efficiency, equity, effectiveness, humanization and innovation, in order to provide access, quality, demand and resilience in the provision of essential services”. Said the minister, emphasizing that “the cooperation mechanism with health partners provides an opportunity to evaluate actions, identify challenges, present commitments and reinforce implementation”.
Government data shows that, in the last five years, Angola has made significant progress in terms of improving access to quality health services, with emphasis on increasing the workforce by around 35%, increasing infrastructure with the construction of 85 modern health facilities and the strengthening of the capacity to respond to public health emergencies, including vaccination against COVID19.
However, the country continues to face several challenges in terms of routine vaccination coverage, high levels of malaria, diarrheal diseases, pneumonia, acute malnutrition, tuberculosis, increase in chronic non-communicable diseases, still insufficient quality of epidemiological surveillance data, among others, which requires the participation of all and a joint approach to accelerate the achievement of universal health coverage.
In turn, the WHO Representative in Angola, Dr. Djamila Cabral, said that the cooperation mechanism for health represents an important milestone in strengthening the partnership and coordination between the Ministry of Health and partners, which will allow the country to continue to advance towards universal health coverage, that is, ensure that all people, everywhere, have access to quality health services that are people-centered and meet their needs, without experiencing financial hardship.
“We congratulate the Government for this noble initiative, which will bring together partners and will strengthen participation, joint work and the resolution of the main health problems, in particular the strengthening of primary health care, crucial to guarantee the improvement of the health of the Angolan families”.
The 1st meeting of the Inter-Agency Coordination Committee, which included the participation of agencies of the United Nations system, international organizations and civil society, discussed topics such as the balance of actions developed during the 2017/2021 five-year period and the national commitment to health of children, women and the fight against major endemic diseases.
Participants pledged to support the implementation of the national commitment to the health of children, women and the fight against major endemic diseases at all levels, and to integrate the monitoring framework that will be established to measure progress in the area of Primary Health Care and improvement of Maternal and Child Health.
