Angola News Wire

Luanda – A memorandum aimed at developing actions for people in vulnerable situations across the country, with emphasis on children, rural women, elderly and people with disabilities was signed Friday in Luanda.

The Ministry for Social Action, Family and Women Promotion (Masfamu) was signed by the national director for social action, Fátima Cabral, and Fundação Brilhante by its director-general, Bruno Agostinho who said it was a strategic partnership in the framework of Endiama’s social responsibility.

The agreement also foresees the development of actions at community level that promote the empowerment of families in situations of social vulnerability, as well as upgrade the staff of both institutions in the matter of prevention and combat of all forms of violence against the targeted groups.

He added that with this agreement they will further fine tune the machine with the identification of actions and move on to concrete projects, in order to support the Angolan Government’s challenge to improve the living conditions of its citizens, empowering families and leaving behind welfare assistance.

Source: Angola Press News Agency

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the face of America’s pandemic response through two White House administrations, has tested positive for the coronavirus.

The 81-year-old Fauci, who is fully vaccinated and has received two booster shots, was experiencing mild COVID-19 symptoms, according to a statement Wednesday from the National Institutes of Health.

Fauci has not recently been in close contact with President Joe Biden or other senior government officials. He tested positive on a rapid antigen test. He is following public health guidelines and his doctor’s advice, and will return to work at the NIH when he tests negative, according to the statement.

Fauci is Biden’s chief medical adviser and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He was a leading member of the White House coronavirus task force under former President Donald Trump.

Earlier this week, U.S. Health Secretary Xavier Becerra tested positive for the virus. It was the second time Becerra had come down with symptoms and tested positive.

 

 

Source: Voice of America

 

 

Florida is the only state that hasn’t preordered COVID-19 vaccines for toddlers in anticipation of their final approval by the federal government, and Governor Ron DeSantis said Thursday that he won’t facilitate their distribution, though he said they’ll be available to those who want them.

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre, who confirmed Florida’s outlier status on Thursday, said not preordering the vaccines could mean delaying their availability in children’s hospitals and other facilities that have relied on state distribution of the shots.

Florida officials said the jabs would be available at pharmacies and community health centers, which can preorder them directly from the federal government, and that children’s hospitals and other clinics would be able to order them from the federal government via a state portal and receive them quickly.

“Doctors can get it. Hospitals can get it. But there’s not going to be any state programs that are going to be trying to get COVID jabs to infants and toddlers and newborns,” DeSantis said at a news conference. “That’s not where we’re gonna be utilizing our resources.”

The final OK could come this weekend for vaccines for kids under 5. The Food and Drug Administration’s vaccine advisers gave a thumbs-up Wednesday to kid-size doses from Pfizer and Moderna for children as young as 6 months, deciding the benefits of the shots outweigh any risks.

Florida’s Health Department does not recommend COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children under 17 but says children with underlying health conditions should be considered candidates for them. That advice contradicts the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which so far has recommended the vaccines for everyone 5 years and older, saying the shots provide strong protection against hospitalization and death.

In Florida, pharmacies and several supermarket chains, plus some community health centers, can preorder vaccines directly from the federal government. Other venues such as hospitals have previously benefited from the state’s preordering of shots. However, they also can order them directly from the federal government via a Florida government web portal and receive the doses within days or a week, said health department spokesperson Jeremy Redfern.

Joe DiMaggio’s Children’s Hospital, which has several centers in South Florida, has previously ordered vaccines via the state portal, officials said.

“As a healthcare institution, our goal is to keep our community healthy and safe, and we will follow the process in place to order approved vaccines for children,” said spokesperson Kerting Baldwin.

Preordering shots would mean the Florida health department would stockpile them, ship them to county-level health departments and then out to hospitals, Redfern said. Hospitals that use the portal will be receiving the shots directly from the federal government, he said.

“The timing doesn’t necessarily change” in a significant way, Redfern said. “This just cuts out the middleman.”

Jean-Pierre, at a news conference in Washington, said parents would be able to access children’s vaccines through federal distribution channels at pharmacies and community health centers, “but those are limited options.”

“We encouraged Florida on several occasions to order vaccines,” Jean-Pierre said. By not doing so, the state “will not have immediate, ready access to some,” she said.

Dr. Michelle Kirwan, chief medical officer and a pediatrician at the Center for Family and Child Enrichment in the suburb of Miami Gardens, said the center gets its supply directly through a federal program.

But she said she was concerned that the state not facilitating the program might confuse parents. She also said some children in this age group may be at a higher risk and their families don’t know it yet.

“I think it adds to the anxiety, which leads to indecision and delays,” Kirwan said. “They will say ‘Who do I listen to?’ Is this going to harm my baby?’ They are between a rock and a hard place.”

 

Source: Voice of America

 

Luanda – Leaders of the Parliamentary groups of MPLA (Angola) and PAICV (Cabo Verde) respectively, Virgílio de Fontes Pereira and João Baptista Pereira discussed the strategies for strengthening cooperation on Tuesday in Praia, Cabo Verde.

Speaking to journalists, the leader of the MPLA Parliamentary Group, Virgílio de Fontes Pereira, praised the meeting and said it allowed the socialisation of political projects, such as the cooperation between the Parliamentary Groups. .

He said that as for MPLA, several actions are already in the pipeline.

He mentioned the activities in the sense of strengthening cooperation ties, with a special focus on the Culture sector”.

Virgílio de Fontes Pereira also expressed his group’s availability to implement the direct air link project between Angola and Cabo Verde underlining that “at the end of this first half or at the beginning of the next one they may have good news.”

In turn, João Baptista Pereira, president of the PAICV Parliamentary Group, said that the visit is to reciprocate the one made  to Angola in January, and “represents  an opportunity to exchange views again on the relationship between the parliamentary groups.

He also said, it allowed to review the protocol in force in order to adjust it to the new times, taking into account the intention to raise the relationship with Angola  to the level of a special strategic partnership”.

He said that he was pleased to hear from the leader of the MPLA Parliamentary Group information about the growth of the non-oil sector by 6.4 percent.

To João Baptista Pereira, “everything good that happens in Angola always favours Cabo Verde and Cabo Verdeans”.

Relations between the political parties date back to the first years of independence of the respective countries (Angola and Cabo Verde).

 

 

Source: Angola Press News Agency

 

Luanda – Angola has reported about 4,600 Public procurement procedures, accounted for 37.4% for public works contracts.

The statistics are contained in the database of the National Public Procurement System (SNCP) 2018-2021 and which were announced by the Minister of Finance, Vera Daves on Thursday in Luanda.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 6th Edition of Public Procurement Week, the minister underlined that given the significant weight of 1,722 public works contract procedures the approach to public procurement and its challenges should be deepened.

According to the minister, there is a need to improve architectural and public works projects, project management skills, using more practical solutions.

Vera Daves stressed that in public procurement it must be necessary to preserve transparency, integrity and probity.

“In fact, gradually, we have been able to ward off the specter of corruption in public procurement. In this new route that we are following, already with a certain stability, there are improvements in the quality of the staff and instruments assigned to the public administration ”, she said.

She underlined that a process of Public Contracting, well initiated, produces incalculable results, with advantages and benefits for all Angolans.

Vera Daves recognised the numerous challenges, stressing  the importance of commitment and dedication of everyone to the improvement  of the Public Procurement, Architecture and Engineering.

“This has been a very challenging path for all those involved and I believe it is important to recognise the lessons learned”, she stressed.

According to the minister, it is important to look at the advantages and disadvantages of drawing up design and construction contracts, through the presentation of real cases on the success or failure of opting for the adoption of this type of projects.

Vera Daves said that one should understand the stages of the transfer process of Software Management (transfer of know-how), intellectual property and the issue of monitoring deadlines for these contracts.

She also explained the responsibilities and models of the relationship between the designer and the supervisor, the prohibition of the same being a supervisor, as well as its and the supervisor’s responsibilities regarding errors and omissions in the projects.

In turn, the director general of the National Service for Public Procurement (SNCP), Sónia Guilherme, explained that the Public Procurement Market Observatory has 91 Procedures triggered by the SNCPE, generating total savings of 24% and 142 Public Procurement Units.

Regarding the audit of procedures, she pointed out that 35 audits were carried out, since 2016, and 29 PIIM procedures, as well as 7,812 tender procedures verified.

At this point, there are over 7,300 trainees since 2014, and more than 500 providers trained under the SNCPE.

The chairman of the Order of Architects of Angola, Celestino Chitonho, regretted the fact that the country does not have instruments for spatial planning in all municipalities.

“(…) The territory is going to be occupied and the master plans are not ready, but, at the same time, at the public level, a lot of construction is being done, that is, we are building first, and then ordering”, he lamented.

Celestino Chitonho explained that the idea is to hire an architect first, make a complete project and then start the work.

The 6th Edition of the Public Procurement Week takes place from June 16th to 17th, ahead of  commemoration of the Public Procurement Week.

 

 

Source: Angola Press News Agency