In total, almost 25 per cent of Angola's 12 million people are estimated to be at risk of contracting sleeping sickness and between 80,000 and 120,000 currently have the disease. Fourteen of the country's 18 provinces have the tse-tse fly which carries the disease and in seven of these sleeping sickness is endemic. Uige and neighbouring Zaire, both jungle provinces next to the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo, are among the worst affected areas and numbers have steadily increased, exacerbated by the disruption of war, large scale population displacement, and the global neglect of a disease that humans thought they had beaten. Last year in this hospital we had 20 to 30 new sleeping sickness patients a month, and this year it has risen to 70 to 80 a month. If drug treatment becomes unavailable, it will be a catastrophe.
Malaria is often the main cause of ill health and death in emergencies.
Some groups are particularly vulnerable, especially in the acute phase of a complex emergency, because they are given less priority in distribution of limited resources or have greater difficulty in accessing treatment and care. Depending on the situation, these may include minority ethnic groups, older people, people with disabilities, and infants and children who are already weak or sick.