Two years after evacuating M’banza Congo in Zaire province in northern Angola, Medicines Sans Frontiers (MSF) said in a statement on Monday that it was “hoping” to again provide basic healthcare services to the people in the region. As part of the new programme, MSF said it was considering starting a sleeping sickness project in the area. “Around M’banza Congo, some 500 people contract sleeping sickness each year,” said health advisor Welmoet Tuynman. “The disease is fatal without treatment. Some 8,000 IDPs (internally displaced persons) who arrived recently are now also at risk. The health authorities have only a very limited and insufficient programme to control the disease in the area.”
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