Luanda, 2 April 2016 - The Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Margaret Chan, and the Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, will be in Luanda, from 2 to 5 April 2016, for a working visit. The visit aims to acquaint them with ongoing efforts to prevent and control the yellow fever epidemic which has gripped the country since December 2015, and to identify ways of further strengthening support to Angola.

In addition to contacts with the leadership of the Ministry of Health, Dr Chan and Dr Moeti will hold meetings with high ranking officials of the ministries of finance, foreign affairs, the Luanda government, diplomatic missions, international partners, and the private sector.

This visit comes at a time when there is an urgent need to immunize over 19 million people who are at risk of yellow fever in 12 of the 18 provinces of the country. So far the country has vaccinated a total of 5.8 million people against yellow fever. With support from WHO about 7,355 million vaccine doses have been acquired to respond to the outbreak.

Technical assistance in the areas of coordination of the response, epidemiological surveillance, laboratory support, logistics support, anti vector control, data management, social mobilization and community participation are being provided in collaboration with other partners and national and international organizations including  UNICEF, CDC / Atlanta, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), Core Group, USAID, UNDP the National Armed Forces and the National Red Cross.

The first cases of the current yellow fever epidemic in Angola were detected in Viana district, situated about 30 km from Luanda, the capital, which remains the epicenter of the epidemic. To date a total of 490 cases of yellow fever  have been confirmed in Angola.

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For more information, please contact:
Dr Hernando Agudelo, WHO Representative, Angola; Tel. +244 927842853; Email: agudeloh [at] who.int
José Soares Caetano Communications Officer; Tel: +244 926 546 698; Email: soarescaetanoj [at] who.int
C. Boakye-Agyemang, Regional Communications Adviser; Tel +4724139420; Email: boakyeagyemangc [at] who.int