Luanda – When municipal health promotion supervisor Papa Diabanza underwent intensive training as part of a strategy to boost epidemiological surveillance and disease prevention in Angola, he became an important cog in the country’s renewed bid to leverage local communities in an effort to improve response time to health emergencies.

“I began working in the health sector in 1992 and have witnessed first-hand the challenges that result from the absence of an effective epidemiological surveillance system,” says Diabanza. “I have spent all these years working hard to promote behaviour change to prevent serious illnesses and this training has added an important new skill.”

In mid-2023, Angola’s Ministry of Health, with support from World Health Organization (WHO), and through funding from the European Union, developed a comprehensive training programme aimed at upskilling 35 Extended Programme on Immunization (EPI) professionals. The training helped provide Diabanza and others with the tools to better combat the entry of diseases from neighbouring countries, while also providing them with the skills that underpin Angola’s new municipal Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) plans.  

“After this training, I was able to gain a broader understanding of how to effectively detect, notify and respond to health emergencies,” says Diabanza, who is based in Zaire province, which shares a northern border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “I now feel more empowered to inform and protect my community,” he says.

As a result of the training, 95% of municipalities in Zaire Province submit surveillance reports and submit them on time. There has also been an increase in the reporting of suspected measles cases in two previously silent municipalities.

In Lunda Norte province, which borders the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the northeast, over 80% of municipalities submit weekly reports and over 90% of these reports arrive on time, compared to before the training, when only 40% were reporting regularly.

Vaccine-preventable diseases have also been notably impacted by the improvement of the surveillance system at the municipal level, in health facilities and in the community. In March 2024, the poliovirus was detected in a municipality in Lunda Norte, which triggered response activities at the national level, including the national polio vaccination campaign, and led to over 5.5 million children in Angola being vaccinated against polio in May 2024.  

“Reinforcing surveillance actions not only strengthens our capacity to respond to an event, but also
improves our readiness to respond effectively against other potentially epidemic diseases,” says Dr Helga de Freitas, Angola’s National Director of Public Health. “We are heartened to see that our efforts are already proving to be impactful on the ground.” 

WHO Representative in Angola, Dr Zabulon Yoti, stresses that the early detection of cases helps avert outbreaks, prevents illness and saves lives. 

“These initiatives not only equip health professionals with fundamental knowledge and skills in epidemiological surveillance, but also strengthen the capacity of local communities to respond to public health emergencies more effectively,” he says. “This highlights the positive impact that capacity building can have on improving public health and strengthening the response to outbreaks and emergencies.”