Praia ‒ Seventy-eight year-old Ernesto Cabral understands altruism. It runs in his veins. Ernesto is the nephew of one of Africa’s foremost anti-colonial leaders and Cabo Verde’s national hero, Amílcar Cabral. While his uncle dedicated his life to fight colonial powers in Africa, Ernesto chose to fight a disease that kills an African child every minute: malaria. 

Ernesto recalls enrolling at the Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine at the University of Lisbon as a young man. There he honed his skills in reading slides and parasite identification under the guidance of Dr Francisco Cambournac, a renowned malariologist and the first World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa. “Dr Cambournac used to come often to Cabo Verde to carry out studies on parasites, for example, mosquitoes, and we used to follow him to the field to collect blood samples to take to the laboratory,” recalls Ernesto. “In the lab they used to joke that because I learned with an expert – Cambournac – I knew everything.” 

Ernesto joined Cabo Verde’s post-independence Malaria Control Brigade in 1978, where he spent over 30 years honing his skills and becoming an invaluable part of the country’s malaria response. “My colleagues really had trust in my work. I used to finish my shift at the laboratory at the health centre and then head to the hospital where I would find many slides waiting for me to read,” he says.  

Cabo Verde’s efforts to control malaria paid off. In January 2024 it reached a historic milestone when WHO certified the country as malaria-free. It became the third country in the African region to be certified, joining Algeria and Mauritius and, which gained this recognition in 2019 and 1973  respectively.

Despite being eligible for retirement in 2012, Ernesto only managed to hang up his lab coat eight years later.  “When we managed to reduce malaria cases, my colleagues moved elsewhere but I kept working at the laboratory,” he says. “Every now and then I also worked in the communities doing case finding of family members and neighbours of infected people.”

The certification is a proud moment in Ernesto’s long and rewarding career. “Dr António Moreira, the national malaria programme coordinator, told me that we managed to eliminate malaria, however, if cases rise again, I would be called to help. I replied, ‘No problem, my colleagues and I will be available.’”