In the Angolan province of Huíla, where the Serra da Leba rises like a poem carved in stone and the mountainous plateau borders Namibe, house to 1 of the oldest deserts in the world, dozens of unsung heroes upward push every destroy of day with a noble mission: to set apart lives from cholera.
Dr José Caetano, World Successfully being Organization´s polio surveillance officer in Huíla, is one of the faces of this fight. With bigger than two decades of abilities on the entrance line of public smartly being, from the dense forests of Zaire province to Huíla, his scramble has been marked by smartly being emergencies, resilience, and hope.
Since the starting of this 365 days, Angola has been going by draw of a cholera outbreak with bigger than 26,000 cases and 750 deaths.
Though cholera is a preventable illness with an effective oral vaccine, Huíla has turned into the epicentre of the most up-to-the-minute outbreak one day of the length of June 8 to June 21, recording as of this day 1085 confirmed cases and 31 deaths — a case fatality rate of 2.9%.
Most of the affected other folks, a lot like 33% of the cases, had been under the age of 20, with 52% being ladies, whereas 62% of deaths passed off between the ages of 20 and 34, with males being the most affected with 62% of the cases. The illness, aggravated by precarious water and sanitation infrastructure, is spreading hasty and requires an urgent and coordinated response to protect and set apart the lives of other folks in Angola.
Dr Caetano is on the floor. He offers technical enhance to the provincial directorate of smartly being, guides groups in the province’s municipalities, trains professionals, supervises operations, participates in coordination meetings, and helps the compilation of well-known records for making life-saving selections.
‘I’ve seen what vaccine-preventable ailments carry out to teens, to households,’ he recalls. “In Zaire, I witnessed the pain of polio – teens unable to trot, play, or dream. That’s why I strive every day to protect households from preventable ailments.”
Cetano’s scramble to protect lives has been unheard of. In the early 2000s, he played a key position in responding to yellow fever and malaria outbreaks. He also supported the reintegration of Angolan refugees returning from the Republic of Congo, many of whom had been malnourished and plagued by tuberculosis. In 2015, he actively supported the efforts of Angola to eradicate and murder the declaration of wild poliovirus free, a historic milestone.
Now, with cholera threatening to reverse years of development in public smartly being achievement and taking lives, Caetano and the WHO are working with the Ministry of Successfully being, mobilizing rapid response groups and communities for prevention, water, and sanitation, supporting vaccination campaigns, and reinforcing case administration and epidemiological surveillance. Nevertheless, the crisis requires more, as acknowledged by the WHO Angola Consultant, Dr. Indrajit Hazarika.
‘We’re doing all the pieces we can,’ and we’re witnessing a decline in the mortality rate in the country to the lowest ranges since January 2025, from a excessive of 8.8% to 1.5% in the closing weeks. Nevertheless, now we must elope the efforts to stay the cholera outbreak and protect the inhabitants. We need offers, oral rehydration aspects, neat water, vaccines, and to intensify the neighborhood mobilization”, acknowledged Dr. Indrajit.
Despite the prolonged hours and the distance from his six teens, Dr Caetano stays steadfast. “At any time when local authorities need technical steerage that makes a distinction, we’re known as upon. We’re proud to enhance the government on the entrance line,” he added.
The provincial director of Successfully being, Dr Paulo Luvangamo, reinforces: “We depend on the WHO for supervision, technical and logistical enhance. It has been a elementary enhance in responding to smartly being emergencies and stopping all ailments, without exception.”
In Huíla, where the fight in opposition to cholera intensifies, Dr Caetano’s dream is modest but profound: “To hasty take care of watch over the cholera outbreak, protect lives and strengthen the smartly being machine to guarantee access to quality healthcare for all.”
