Angola

Latest News and Events

Corporate Responsibility Fighting HIV/AIDS in Angola

Luanda, 25 October 2007 - With an audience of more than 250 students from different fields of knowledge such as health, economics and social sciences, the UNDP fostered a joint workshop at the University Jean Piaget in Viana on October 25th, 2007,

where the representatives of UNAIDS, UNFPA and UNDP had the opportunity to interact with this target audience and talk about HIV/AIDS and how it is affecting and afflicting people in Africa and in Angola in particular. Dr. Roberto Campos from the UNAIDS, Dr. Jorge Romero from the UNDp and Dr. Celina Gorre from the UNFPA were invited by this only private university that houses a school of medicine and dental studies. Representing the University were Dr. Alcina Afonso, Dr. Andre Neto and Dr. Manuel Palanca.

From the theme «poverty and HIV/AIDS, the two faces of the same coin», it was reinforced that the epidemic initially started in some industrialized countries to then spread to other lesser developed countries, and that Angola was not an exception to be affected by the epidemic as well.

«This disease presents to us as a poverty factor within the target populations, creating a vicious circle, difficult to deal with, while increasing the level of poverty and hunger, thus decreasing the possibility to access health and job opportunities such as is the case in Angola», said Dr. Campos. «Because of this, people become more vulnerable to the infection and the disease. This leads to the diminished capacity of a country to become self-sufficient and can endanger the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals», continued Dr. Campos. Approximately 40 million people worldwide have been affected with HIV/AIDS, and Africa is the continent most affected.

Dr. Romero also talked about the trends of HIV in Angola, where approximately less than three percent of the overall population is infected, a number below the average of the neighboring countries, where the prevalence can escalate up to 40%, such as is the case for Botswana and South Africa with 21%.