Angola

A LARGE COUNTRY located on the southwest coast of Africa, Angola was a Portuguese colony until it gained its independence, as the Republic of Angola, on November 11, 1975. The country has reasonably good healthcare for its population of 11 million. There are, on average, 7.7 doctors and 115 nurses per 100,000 people. It is also estimated that 30 percent of the population can reach hospitals or clinics within an hour. The cancer incidence rate for men in Angola is 127 cases per 100,000 people.

During the early Portuguese colonial period, life expectancy was short and many Angolans were transported to the Americas as slaves. Some of these slaves suffered from human T-cell leukemia-lymphoma virus. It is believed that some Portuguese traders in Angola may have also contracted the virus, which has been found in other areas around the world in which they traded. During this period, there was little knowledge of cancer and although some tribes had used medicinal treatment for tumors, any organized healthcare that existed was for Europeans or tribal chieftains.

The Portuguese did establish a rudimentary health-care system, although most of it was aimed at treating tropical diseases such as malaria. Cancer had a relatively low profile in the country until Agostinho Neto (1922–79)—the first president of the Republic of An-gola—died from pancreatic cancer in Moscow, USSR, on September 10, 1979.

As a young man, he had studied medicine in Lisbon, Portugal, returning to Angola to practice medicine. He also agitated against Portuguese colonial rule, which saw him imprisoned several times. In 1976, he managed to lead Angola to independence by becoming the country's founding father. However, he was already seriously ill and was rushed to seek urgent treatment in Moscow, where he died. His body was subsequently embalmed, although in 1991, according to the wishes of his widow, it was buried.

Note should also be made of the British army officer and explorer Colin Campbell Mitchell (1925–96), who traveled in Angola and succumbed to cancer; and Ron Wikberg (1944–94), author and associate editor of The Angolite, who returned to the United States from Angola in January 1994, and died of cancer on February 4, 1994.

With the end of the fighting in Angola in 2002, the health services of the country have been rebuilt and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been responsible for helping to initiate radiotherapy services in Angola. The Instituto de Investigacao Medica de Angola (Angola Medical Research Institute) and the Universidade Agostinho Neto, both in Luanda, remain the central medical research centers in the country with sections developed for cancer treatment.