Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Luanda (Agenzia Fides) – Angola has two of the most violent species of mosquito of the world, the giant anopheles mosquito and the anopheles spontaneous mosquito, which can adapt to various circumstances living inside and outside residences and can also feed from animal blood. In a meeting recently held in Luanda, the co-ordinator of the Programme of Combat to Malaria, Filomeno Fortes, said that the country registered 3.1 million cases of malaria during the year 2009, which resulted in 8,000 deaths. He said that the transmission of the disease in not uniform, having added that the central Benguela province was the most endemic of the country's 18 provinces with 28 percent of the cases of 2009. Angola wants to control and reduce the disease until 2015 and eradicate the disease until the year 2030. To reach this goal, the Ministry of Health aims at reducing the cases of malaria by 60 percent, by the year 2012, and cover 80 percent of children below the age of five and pregnant women with malaria. The treatment of pregnant women through quick tests, the use of mosquito nets and an integrated control are the objectives of the Health Ministry. In 2008, the country registered 3.45 million cases of malaria. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 21/04/2010)
