Talatona – The UNICEF representative in Angola, Iván Yerovi, said Thursday it was urgent to ensure more investment in the health sector, to avoid newborn deaths and inequalities in the access of the population to rural and urban areas.
Speaking at the 1st Forum on Primary Health Care and Immunisation, he stressed the need for more investment in the health sector, as mentioned in the April 2001 Abuja Declaration, which Angola signed.
In this way, he said that primary health care should be intensified as a guarantee of effective responses to the current gaps in the sector in the maternal, neonatal and infant areas, at accessible costs for the most vulnerable, at a time when the country is preparing itself to respond to emerging diseases such as outbreaks and natural disasters.
For his part, the Representative of the Melinda Gates Foundation, Orion Levine, said that the Angolan government has improved in terms of care, highlighting the fight against the Covi-19 pandemic and access to primary care.
In his view, the country has improved control of the polio outbreak by 70 percent and shown it has the capacity to respond to its African neighbours.
The WHO deputy regional director, Elizabet Lindwe Maphosa, said it was necessary to support the Angolan government to speed up the health care programme, using measurable technologies to improve access to care for children.
Source: Angola Press News Agency