Angola is setting priorities for implementing the Nature4Health (N4H) initiative in the country, a global programme that seeks to prevent pandemics and epidemics by tackling their environmental causes. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the government and several organisations met in Luanda to design the national project.
N4H Angola is expected to be worth a total of $2.5 million and to last three years, with $250,000 available at this stage. The global initiative is partly funded by the German government, with €50 million. The project should be ready in May 2027 and begin implementation by the end of that year.
Adjany Costa, a UNDP specialist and member of the coordination team, explained that the approach is about protecting nature in order to protect people, involving all stakeholders. Among the diseases of concern to the country are Marburg, Ebola, dengue and malaria.
The Secretary of State for Public Health, Carlos Sousa, argued that prevention is far smarter and more economical than reacting late to an emergency, while the Secretary of State for Climate Action, Nascimento Soares, highlighted the initiative’s enormous potential to link health, biodiversity and climate.
