Ever since a cholera outbreak in Angola was first confirmed on January 7, 2025, Angola Red Cross volunteers have been at the forefront of the response, helping people avoid exposure to this often deadly water-borne disease.
Sometimes, they even brought water into communities in buckets, balanced on top of their heads, to prepare oral hydration solutions or provide people with safe drinking water.
The outbreak started in Cacuaco, a suburban area of Luanda Province which hosts the country’s capital and approximately 1.2 million residents. Since then, the disease has spread to 14 provinces and 57 municipalities, with Luanda reporting the highest number of cases (3,788).
“The oral cholera vaccine is an important tool in the fight against cholera and this is the first time it is being used in Angola, but we always need to combine this with other preventative measures such as water treatment, handwashing with soap and sanitation.”
Catarina Laurinda, coordinator of the Angola Red Cross response to the cholera outbreak
The outbreak continues to escalate due to poor sanitation, limited access to clean water, and high population density. In Cuanza Norte Province, the disease is taking lives at an alarming rate.
Since the outbreak started, the Angola Red Cross trained 478 volunteers across six provinces (Luanda, Bengo, Cuanza Norte, Cuanza Sul, Uige, and Zaire) to support the Ministry of Health in raising awareness.
Volunteers disseminated information on cholera’s causes, symptoms, prevention measures, and hygiene promotion through door-to-door and mass communication in schools, markets and other public venues.
“Our volunteers are visiting households in cholera hotspots, supporting the Ministry of Health in setting up hand-washing facilities in key places, as well as providing safe, treated water and cleaning solutions for households,” explains Catarina Laurinda, who is coordinating the cholera response for the Angola Red Cross.
“As part of water disinfection efforts, they have distributed more than 20.000 household water-treatment tablets in affected communities.”
Angola Red Cross volunteers also track cholera transmission routes and ensure that people have access to safe water supplies, sanitation and hygiene services. Teams treat people at the community level by administering oral rehydration therapy to people with cholera and refer the most severe cases to hospitals.
“When the cholera outbreak started in Cacuacuo, our first work was distributing water treatment tablets to ensure the population had access to safe water to drink,” says Joana Manuel Joao, an Angola Red Cross volunteer.
“This way, sick people could prepare the oral rehydration salts. We then demonstrated how to use the tablets and how to store the water properly so it does not get contaminated.”
One of the main ways the volunteers support the cholera vaccination campaign is by building trust and engaging with communities**. T**he volunteers reach out to traditional community leaders and disseminate information about the cholera vaccine, proper hygiene and sanitation practices.
“The oral cholera vaccine is an important tool in the fight against cholera and this is the first time it is being used in Angola,” Catarina Laurina adds, “but we always need to combine this with other preventative measures such as water treatment, handwashing with soap and sanitation.”
The larger challenge, however, is to ensure that future outbreaks can be avoided.
“With the tools we have today and the knowledge we have had for over a century, cholera should not be a public health concern,” says Alexandra Machado, currently in Angola serving as IFRC’s public health coordinator. “We have seen cholera outbreaks becoming annual occurrences during the last years in this region.”
“This is why the IFRC is supporting National Societies and communities to be better prepared, so that they are able to prevent cholera and other epidemics at community level.”
This preparation and development work is a key part of IFRC’s Ending Cholera Plan, which stresses that water and sanitation services need to be accessible to all – and not just in response to outbreaks or emergencies.
“If we really want to put an end to cholera, we need to acknowledge its roots causes,” explains Naemi Heita, who heads the IFRC’s Country Cluster office in Maputo and Angola*. “Governments, NGOs, and the private sector must mobilize and increase investments in water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructures, health, and social systems so that they can withstand the fallout from disasters, conflicts, and climate change.”*
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
