Angola

Angola has been recovering from a long and devastating civil war that ended in 2002. Investments to infrastructure have improved access to healthcare. But a lack of trained health workers, and a health system that is spread over vast areas, leave many underserved or with limited and poor-quality healthcare. Angola is still one of the countries with the highest maternal and infant child mortality rates in sub-Saharan Africa mainly caused by preventable diseases.

The MENTOR Initiative supports malaria, Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), community health, entomology surveillance and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programmes in Angola. Partnering with the Ministry of Health since 2004, MENTOR has helped implement operations and provided technical support to different disease programmes in the country.

We are supporting activities in 11 provinces (out of 18). These are: Bengo, Benguela, Bié, Cuando Cubango, Cuanza Norte, Cuanza Sul, Cunene, Huambo, Huíla, Uíge and Zaire. Here we work with local health workers and health managers to expand the reach of life-saving interventions for malaria and NTDs.

Main Activities

Mass Drug Administration community-based campaigns target lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminths in eight provinces. Since 2014, MENTOR has supported the delivery of over 30 million treatments for these diseases.
Training and supporting Community Health Workers to diagnose and treat malaria cases.
Outreach training and supportive supervision for malaria case management to health workers. Support the improvement of data quality through routine data quality assessments.
Support the malaria elimination framework in southern Angola through the improvement of active surveillance, case management, vector control and quality of data.

Support entomology surveillance through capacity building of local focal points and setting up sentinel sites for the study of malaria vectors such as the surveillance of the invasive species Anopheles stephensi.
Support epidemiological and behaviour surveys such as NTD mapping, impact assessment and coverage surveys, Malaria Behaviour Survey, improve quality of reporting and strengthen malaria surveillance to collect and use data effectively, and contribute to the gradual progression towards disease elimination.
Support the development of DHIS2 reporting system for NTD Mass Drug Administration campaigns as well as for the malaria active surveillance activities in southern Angola.

Highlights in 2023

The delivery of over 5.2 million treatments for lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminths.
The supervision of 1,135 health facility workers, training 128 community health workers, and the support and supervision of 652 community health workers in malaria case management.
Diagnosed and treated 203,403 cases of malaria in health facilities.

Community health workers diagnosed and treated 34,695 cases of malaria.
Set up the active surveillance framework for malaria elimination in seven cross-border municipalities in southern Angola.