Break in essential medicines pipeline

Humanitarian groups this week reported a critical breakdown in the essential medicines pipeline in three provinces of Angola. Most affected by the shortages were the central Bie and Huambo provinces and Benguela in the west, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest humanitarian update. In Benguela, provincial health authorities reported that medicine stocks for supplying all nine municipalities had been depleted, while in Huambo an estimated 75 percent of health posts were without drugs. Authorities expected the shortage to continue until September. Living conditions in transit centres housing former UNITA combatants, especially in the central Huila province, were also causing concern. "All transit centres in the province have exceeded capacity and humanitarian partners remain concerned about the lack of sanitation facilities and clean water," OCHA said. The report noted that in some provinces Angolan refugees returning from the Democratic Republic of Congo had placed a strain on limited resources. The OCHA report also noted that conditions in areas where internally displaced persons (IDPs) and former UNITA soldiers were returning were inadequate, and often seriously lacking health facilities. In some cases, people who had left the camps returned due to a lack of food and basic services, the report said. OCHA added that pockets of severe malnutrition in eastern Huambo had surfaced, and a nutritional survey in the Katchiungo commune showed that "rates are well above the alarm threshold". In some provinces medical care was directly linked to road accessibility. An estimated 17,500 people at the Quienha commune in the western Kuanza Sul province are inaccessible to aid agencies. "There are no public services such as health and education, and during the recent measles immunisation campaign the vaccination team was unable to reach the town, limiting coverage to surrounding areas," OCHA said.