Luanda – Angola´s Health minister, Sílvia Lutukuta, said Wednesday in Luanda that the country aims to be a reference in scientific research and genomic analysis, a branch of genetics that studies an organism's complete genome.
The minister made such revelation to the press at the end of the meeting she had with the Chinese ambassador to Angola, Gong Tão, and the vice-president of the Chinese company BGI Global Development, Terence Xiong, having stressed that the country also intends to work on health research, as it is an important aspect and one of the priorities of her ministerial department.
According to the minister, Angola wants to have security level laboratories, as the one the country has is currently at level two.
She also informed that intention on genomic analysis is due to the fact that the Chinese company BGI Global Development wants to bring this potentiality to Angola.
Sílvia Lutukuta said that the Ministry will be working in partnership with the BGI company on diagnosis with complex biological engineering technology platforms and results of genomic analyses.
She said that the government wants to carry on studies on infectious and neglected diseases, drepanocytosis, HIV-AIDS, and later it will be possible to look at the resistance to certain medications when dealing with more common diseases in the country.
On his turn, the Chinese ambassador to Angola, Gong Tao, said he intended to continue to support public companies in the area of health, in strengthening cooperation with the Health sector, in the search for new ways of updating collaboration and broadening the scope of scientific research in the sector.
The diplomat highlighted that Chinese companies are willing to implement these intentions and for that they want to continue cooperation with Angola and Africa in order to improve public health situation.
He said that over the next few months the sixth medical team would arrive in Angola to provide free treatment to the population for various diseases at Luanda General Hospital.
Gong Tao stated that China will also train Angolan health technicians on equipment, diagnosis and maintenance, as well as to provide scholarships to the Angolans who want to study health in the People's Republic of China.
BGI's vice president of Global Development, Terence Xiong, Terence Xiong, reaffirmed his desire to participate in this process of new cooperation with Angola, focusing on constant work in various aspects of health.
