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STORY: WHO / ANGOLA CHOLERA
TRT: 06:47
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT WHO ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: PORTUGUESE / NATS
DATELINE: 10 JUNE 2025, CALUQUEMBE, HUÍLA PROVINCE, ANGOLA
1. Various shots, cholera awareness materials being attached to a wall
2. Med shot, man looking at a cholera poster
3. Various shots, inside a community meeting of people singing and clapping
4. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Mariana Soma, Administrator, Municipality of Caluquembe:
“The challenge is huge. Here in the village, it is easier to find families that have to use latrines. But we still have to recognize that the phenomenon of open defecation is still very worrying. We have been looking at this in rural areas. Few families have latrines and use them; there are those who have them but do not use them correctly. So, it is really challenging. It is a process that we need to reinforce, to provide training, to make people able to build latrines with local materials, to see if this issue of open defecation can actually be reduced, to see and to specifically and decisively cut the circulation of the cholera embryo that has appeared here in our municipality since last April.”
5. Med shot, Madalena Gando speaking at the community meeting
6. SOUNDUP (Portuguese) Madalena Gando, Head, Public Health Section, Municipality of Caluquembe:
“We were a large group visiting the villages. Yesterday we visited 283 houses, only three of which had latrines, and the main prevention of cholera is hygiene. Above all, do not defecate in the ...”
7. SOUNDUP (Portuguese) Audience:
“Open air”
8. Various shots, WHO and partners arriving at the Cholera Treatment Centre, entering a tent and seeing patients being treated by health workers
9. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) José Coelho, Cholera Patient:
“I realized that I couldn't do anything. I'm really sick. I'm really sick. My family was planning to take me straight to Caluquembe Hospital, but I was almost admitted to Caconda Hospital. But I decided to come to my area, near my village. But when we got here, thank God, they supported us very well.”
10. Med shot, patient being treated by health worker in PPE
11. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Judite Júlio José, Cholera Patient:
“It really is death; it really is death. But then I thought about it. I arrived here at the hospital and almost died, but death didn't win thanks be to God, thanks be to the nurses.”
12. Med shot, two patients sitting up in bed
13. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Joaquim Ismael, Director, Caluquembe Health Cente:
“I believe we have had a good response. Our patients are receiving good treatment, are well monitored and discharged. They are recovering.”
14. Med shot, patient being treated by health worker in PPE
15. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Joaquim Ismael, Director of the Caluquembe Health Centre
“Cholera is a disease that acts involuntarily due to a lack of hygiene. When we don't have hygiene, we have cases. When we don't have (clean) drinking water, we have cases.”
16. Wide shot, Makua Village market, close to the river and the new water station and latrine
17. Various shots, newly constructed water station, with a young boy pouring and drinking a cup of water
18. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Gabriel Chipia, Traditional Authority, Village of Makua:
“Yes, this was help from the community, because they know that cholera kills. Well, they are obliged to do this to help a person or a case.”
19. Med shot, newly built latrine
20. Med shot, man washing his hands
21. Med shot, lady in orange jacket, washing her hands and drinking water
22. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Joaquim Gaspar, Municipal Epidemiological Surveillance Supervisor:
“In our communities, it's a bit difficult because most of our communities don't use latrines. And they consume water from the river where they wash and where they get drinking water. But to solve this, the sensitizations carried out in the communities and elsewhere say that no one can consume unboiled water, they must boil it or drink water that (has been cleaned with) hypochlorite or bleach, to make what we call a mother solution so that they can consume it.”
23. Med shot, WHO team member in conversation with a partner next to a newly built latrine.
24. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Joaquim Gaspar, Municipal Epidemiological Surveillance Supervisor
“Well, we don't have limits, so when the conditions are right, we'll do more, because there are still needs in many places for (water) points to be built.”
25. Various shots, Cusesse River with women washing clothes in the river, a man washing his motorbike, people collecting water from the river in yellow containers, loading it onto a motorbike with a red trailer, before driving away
In response to the ongoing cholera outbreak in Angola, the World Health Organization (WHO), in partnership with local authorities, is stepping up community engagement and public health interventions in Caluquembe, Huila province.
The aim to raise awareness about cholera, including community meetings, public health messages and the construction of essential infrastructure such as latrines and drinking water access points in the municipality.
SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Mariana Soma, Administrator, Municipality of Caluquembe:
“The challenge is huge. Here in the village, it is easier to find families that have to use latrines. But we still have to recognize that the phenomenon of open defecation is still very worrying. We have been looking at this in rural areas. Few families have latrines and use them; there are those who have them but do not use them correctly. So, it is really challenging. It is a process that we need to reinforce, to provide training, to make people able to build latrines with local materials, to see if this issue of open defecation can actually be reduced, to see and to specifically and decisively cut the circulation of the cholera embryo that has appeared here in our municipality since last April.”
Local leaders and health authorities emphasize the challenges related to open defecation and limited access to safe water, factors that continue to fuel the spread of the disease.
At the Cholera Treatment Centre at the Caluquembe Health Centre, WHO and its partners continue to support health workers and the community with life-saving interventions. Patients share their stories of recovery and the care they received.
SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) José Coelho, Cholera Patient:
“I realized that I couldn't do anything. I'm really sick. I'm really sick. My family was planning to take me straight to Caluquembe Hospital, but I was almost admitted to Caconda Hospital. But I decided to come to my area, near my village. But when we got here, thank God, they supported us very well.”
SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Judite Júlio José, Cholera Patient:
“It really is death; it really is death. But then I thought about it. I arrived here at the hospital and almost died, but death didn't win thanks be to God, thanks be to the nurses.”
SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Joaquim Ismael, Director, Caluquembe Health Cente:
“I believe we have had a good response. Our patients are receiving good treatment, are well monitored and discharged. They are recovering.”
SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Joaquim Ismael, Director of the Caluquembe Health Centre
“Cholera is a disease that acts involuntarily due to a lack of hygiene. When we don't have hygiene, we have cases. When we don't have (clean) drinking water, we have cases.”
At the Village of Makua members of the affected community, municipal authorities and health professionals, highlighted the efforts to contain the outbreak and promote hygiene practices.
SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Gabriel Chipia, Traditional Authority, Village of Makua:
“Yes, this was help from the community, because they know that cholera kills. Well, they are obliged to do this to help a person or a case.”
SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Joaquim Gaspar, Municipal Epidemiological Surveillance Supervisor:
“In our communities, it's a bit difficult because most of our communities don't use latrines. And they consume water from the river where they wash and where they get drinking water. But to solve this, the sensitizations carried out in the communities and elsewhere say that no one can consume unboiled water, they must boil it or drink water that (has been cleaned with) hypochlorite or bleach, to make what we call a mother solution so that they can consume it.”
SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Joaquim Gaspar, Municipal Epidemiological Surveillance Supervisor
“Well, we don't have limits, so when the conditions are right, we'll do more, because there are still needs in many places for (water) points to be built.”
The new water and sanitation infrastructures, built with the participation of the community, aim at reducing the transmission of cholera in the affected areas.
