Angola & Malaria

Malaria, a preventable and treatable disease, is the leading cause of death in Angola and all of Africa.

Last year over 20,000 Angolans died from malaria. Two thirds were children under the age of five. Malaria has been eliminated in many parts of Asia, Europe and the Americas. But in Angola and most of Africa, the infection has increased over the last three decades due to weak health care systems, poor infrastructure and growing drug resistance.

Angola is one of the most economically challenged countries in Africa. The country’s 27-year old civil war (which ended in 2002) killed approximately half a million people, displaced 4 million and damaged much of its infrastructure. Now more than 70% of its 12 million people make a living through small-scale agriculture.

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Malaria is a preventable and treatable disease with a cost-effective solution: the use of insecticide-treated bed nets. These nets only need to be treated once every three years. The repellent factor in one net even protects those in other areas of the room.

• nets reduce malaria transmission by as much as 90%
• nets provide twice as much protection as untreated nets
• the African malaria mosquito usually bites from 10 pm – 4 am when people are asleep in bed.

Other ways to prevent malaria:

• Spraying insecticide on the inside walls of homes or at outdoor breeding sites (must be carried out by trained specialists)
• Anti-malarial drugs (which are priced out of reach for most Angolans)

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