Sister Lorella Figini, our main contact person, answered some questions about the pandemic in Angola.

• How did Angola react to the pandemic?

The number of positive cases of COVID-19 in Angola have not increased in the way as (even the Ministry for Health itself, which was expecting 10 thousands of cases at this time) predicted it. The government reacted quickly to close first the borders for the countries that already had the positive cases and right after the state of emergency was declared (which initially, this state should be lasting for only 15 days, but now we are in the second extension of the emergency). With this declaration, leaving the country was severely limited and it created a quarantine zone within the country. As in other countries, the government adopted a series of fiscal, monetary and exchange rate measures, such as extending the deadline for payment of the Industrial Tax by one (1) month; payment of Social Security (8% of the employer) for the months of April, May and June in six monthly instalments from July to December 2020 and others.

• What are the consequences of the pandemic – for people and everyday life?

Speaking of the consequences of the epidemic, it is noted that the families live under the threat of rising costs of basic goods, due to the disruption in the supply chain, due to reduced family income, redundancies and wage cuts, as well as the lower consumption of their production of goods and services, especially in the informal market. Most families in Angola live on the basis of the informal market, which normally serves for daily survival, or better, when you manage to sell, the family has what to eat; and since during this period the market has not been functioning as in other times, every day and full time, many families are going hungry. In fact, the situation of families was already precarious even before COVID-19, according to the data of poverty, whether monetary or multidimensional, of Angolan families. Therefore, measures to contain and mitigate the spread of the coronavirus that severely limit the freedoms of the populations aggravate the situation in alarming ways. So that there are constant cases of disobedience, and on the other hand, excesses in law enforcement by the forces of order and security.

• What is the greatest danger of the pandemic? What is the capacity of the health system in Angola?

The dangers of the epidemic in Angola are numerous, from the poverty conditions in which the majority of the population is living, the lack of basic sanitation and the Angolan health system itself, which can be classified as one of the worst in the world, due to its breakdown and the reduction in health coverage. Not everyone has access to the health coverage in Angola, and those who do have it do not always receive the necessary quality, moreover, they have to contribute to health costs, in the public hospital.

The lucrative private sector is still confined to the main urban centres of the country. Health care prices limit the accessibility of the population to the lucrative private sector. Unfortunately, prices are not regulated at all. As in the public sector, the quality of the services provided is below of what is desired. Most of the staff in the private sector are the same as those working in the public sector, with obvious losses for both sectors. The private non-profit sector, essentially linked to religious bodies and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), tends to target care to the most vulnerable in suburban and rural areas.

The current health centre ratio can be estimated at 1 to 20,000 inhabitants, suggesting that there is a huge lack of basic health services to meet the needs of the population.

To cope with possible cases of the pandemic, there is a marked investment in health infrastructure with the rehabilitation of health facilities as well as the adaptation of other existing structures; import of biosafety materials and medicines.

• Which difficulties the school centres are facing due to the pandemic?

For now, we cannot estimate the difficulties, since the pupils are confined at home and the schools are closed. It is just possible to predict it, as we know the living conditions of most of our students that they depend on informal market. Many families will have to be supported with basic goods and many of them certainly will not be able to pay the contribution requested. Meanwhile, the school centres have to continue paying wages and have ordinary running and maintenance costs to be covered.