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ANGOLA / HEALTH
STORY: ANGOLA / HEALTH
TRT: 3:08
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / PORTUGUESE / NATS
DATELINE: 22-26 MARCH 2010, LUBANGO, MATALA HUILA PROVINCE, ANGOLA
1. Wide shot, military vehicles
2. Pan right, tank to gun barrel
3. Close up, gun barrels
4. Wide shot, Luanda
5. Wide shot, cranes and buildings
6. Wide shot, clinic
7. Wide shot, waiting women
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Koenraad Vanormelingen, UNICEF Representative, Angola: “Health care still has a long way to go in Angola as barely 54 percent of women are delivering in health facilities, immunization levels are improving but they are still not yet at 80 percent. But there is also progress. In the last seven years we have seen malnutrition rates drop from dramatically from 30 to 15 percent for chronic malnutrition and mortality rates have improved.”
9. Close up, baby breastfeeding
10. Tilt up babies to mothers
11. Med shot, woman entering clinic
12. Med shot, doctor preparing vaccine
13. Wide shot, vaccinating baby
14. Close up, vaccinating baby
15. Med shot, mother receiving mosquito net
16. Wide shot, preparing babies for weighing
17. Med shot, weighing baby
18. Tilt up, scale
19. Med shot, nurse looking at scale
20. Med shot, nurse lifting baby off scale
21. Med shot, nurse handing baby back to mother
22. Close up, bullet marked statue
23. Close up, statues damaged hand
24. Wide shot, statue to Lubango city
25. Med shot, girls carrying sticks
26. Wide shot, classroom
27. Med shot, students discussing
28. Wide shot, classroom
29. Pan right, flag to school name
30. Wide shot, mother and daughter walk past damaged army truck
31. Wide shot, mother and daughter enter house
32. Med shot, mother putting baby twins down
33. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Rose Ngeve, Mother:
“I want my children to continue in school so they can fend for themselves and not depend on handouts.”
34. Wide shot, Luanda bay
35. Wide shot, oil headquarters
36. Wide shot, digger
37. Close up, mother cooking
38. Wide shot, mother cooking
39. Wide shot, little girl and boy in doorway
40. Close up, boy in doorway
Angola’s long civil war is finally over. For eight years now this oil rich country in Southern Africa has enjoyed peace. And with peace, the country is focused on rebuilding its infrastructure and basic social services.
The task in the health sector alone is enormous. Angola has some of the highest child and maternal mortality rates in the world.
SOUNDBITE (English) Koenraad Vanormelingen UNICEF Representative in Angola:
“Health care still has a long way to go in Angola because barely 54 percent of women are delivering in health facilities, immunization levels are improving but they are still not yet at 80 percent. But there is also progress. In the last seven years what we have seen is malnutrition rates drop from dramatically from 50 to 30 percent and mortality rates have improved.”
It is a busy morning at the Lubango heath centre in the southern province of Huila. Women, many pregnant or with young children, patiently wait their turn for a free package of basic health services.
The country’s progress can in part be attributed to the roll out in the last three years of a package of essential services that targets pregnant and lactating women and children under five. The focus is using simple, tired and tested interventions that work. Such as antenatal care, mosquito nets to avoid malaria, vaccinating for new born babies and better management of the child hood illness like malnutrition, diarrhoea and acute respiratory infection.
With support from UNICEF, the package is now reaching 16 districts in five provinces of the country or about 23 percent of the population. Expanding services though, is not without its complications.
During the decades of war, the vast majority of Angolans missed out on an education and one third of the population is still illiterate. This has created an acute shortage of health workers. To make up for the shortfall, there are currently 650 Cuban doctors working in the country and another 150 expected.
The government is also investing in education, building schools, nursing colleges and five new universities with medical schools. The hope is that within a few years, the country with have its own pool of qualified medical staff.
For mothers like Rose Ngeve, who recently gave birth to twins and has four other children at home, access to free care has been critical to keeping her and her children healthy. She is one of the 60 percent of the population who live on less than (USD) $2.00 a day and struggle to make ends meet.
SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Rose Ngeve, Mother”
“I want my children to continue in school so they can fend for themselves and not depend on handouts.”
As long as the revenue from the country’s vast oil wealth continues to be invested in rebuilding the country, women like Rose and their families may be able to receive improved healthcare and better education for their children.
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