Defeating Cholera: The Resilience of Survivors in Bairro Paraíso.
Three stories of cholera survivors and an example of how information, solidarity and rapid response can save lives.
- Portuguese
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Since the beginning of the cholera outbreak in Angola on January 7, 2025, the country has faced one of its most difficult public health battles. At the center of this crisis was the Bairro Paraíso, in the Municipality of Cacuaco, Luanda, considered for some time the epicenter of the disease.
In the midst of pain and fear, stories of courage, overcoming, and solidarity emerge. Voices that inspire and educate, testimonies of survivors who decided to turn suffering into a lesson for the entire community.
The data indicate that to date, more than 19,600 cases have been registered in 18 provinces of the country.
Juliana Manuel Bravo, a 39-year-old cleaning worker, faced the tough battle of fighting cholera - a disease transmitted by the consumption of water or food contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, which causes symptoms such as intense diarrhea, liquid stools, constant nausea and vomiting, extreme tiredness, and dry mouth.
"I helped a neighbor who had 3 children with symptoms of diarrhea and vomiting." Says Juliana Bravo.
On January 4, when three children from her neighborhood manifested symptoms of cholera, Juliana sympathized with the situation and was willing to support the children's mother to take them to the hospital. Unfortunately, the three children lost their lives on the second day, and it was at this time that Juliana began to feel severe abdominal pain while she was at work.
Because of the symptoms, the cleaning employee was dismissed from work, and when she arrived home, she was taken to the hospital by her husband. To further aggravate her anguish, Juliana learned of the death of the neighbor's children, whom she had helped to rescue, and the hospitalization of four of her children who had the same symptoms.
"At my house there were 5 people with the same symptom. I was the first person, then my 19-year-old son, then the 24-year-old, then the 14-year-old and 9-year-old. My husband was the one who was up and down with us".
Thanks to medical assistance and quick medication at the Health Center, Juliana and her family were able to overcome the situation, and after a few days, she and her 4 children were out of danger, leaving only the reports of social stigma faced.
"It's a joy to be cured because it's not easy after the scare of the 3 children. Even after I was healed, when I went to work, no one greeted me because the neighborhood became famous. In paradise people walked like wind."
At the beginning of the outbreak, in the Paraíso neighborhood, cholera took many lives. Cases of overcoming were rare, all because the community was devoid of knowledge for both prevention and treatment of the outbreak.
Ana Maria, 26 years old, shared the difficulties experienced in the first days of the cholera outbreak in the community.
The street vendor says that her son woke up on January 6 with symptoms of diarrhea and vomiting, however, "no one knew it was cholera because it was starting. They took him to the hospital at my sister's, but he died the same day."
Cases of people infected after contact with cholera patients were quite common, and Ana Maria was no different. He reports that his sister, because she was the person who accompanied the case, after two days she began to show the same symptoms, diarrhea and vomiting.
Today, thanks to awareness-raising actions carried out in the community and through the media, the population is already better informed and has adopted good practices to prevent the cholera outbreak.
"Thank God, as we already had information that it is cholera that is killing, we started taking the medication and she recovered", adds Ana Maria.
An example that access to information can save lives comes from Domingas Manuel Joaquim. The 31-year-old cleaning assistant, having already contracted cholera in 2018, immediately recognized the symptoms and acted quickly, which helped her save her son's life.
"In my house, my son was the one who caught cholera. As I already knew, I went to the pharmacy, bought serum, gave it, but it wasn't going through. Someone advised me to take him to the FAS, because that's where they were treating these cases"
The son was from Domingas and was promptly treated at one of the reference Health Centers in the neighborhood, since at the beginning of the outbreak the Cholera Treatment Center had not yet been installed.
Juliana, Ana and Domingas, raise their voices to raise awareness about the measures that must be taken in the prevention of cholera, underlining the importance of simple but essential measures to avoid new cases of cholera.
"... We have to be more careful with garbage. Because cholera really kills. This disease dragged a lot of people here in our neighborhood. We lost neighbors, children, grandchildren. And we are seeing on television that in other provinces a lot of people are dying." Juliana laments that she is now more aware of cholera prevention measures.
In turn, Ana Maria highlights the importance of hygiene as fundamental to stopping cholera.
"Let's take good care of our bathrooms, treat water before drinking, take care of food, and prevent our children from defecating in the open, because that's exactly where this disease is coming from", he recommends.
The three women use their experiences to help stop the disease, and despite the stigmas they sometimes face, they did not hesitate to give their faces.
They decided to share their experiences to inspire and educate everyone. They transformed pain and fear into strength to mobilize and transform. These stories are a call to action, an example of how information, solidarity, and rapid response can save lives.
These stories not only light the way for those still facing challenges with cholera, but also highlight the importance of community-based prevention and prompt recourse to health services when the first symptoms appear.
Cholera continues to threaten several communities in Angola, but knowledge, combined with community action and access to health services, can reverse this scenario. May these voices from Bairro Paraíso inspire the country to remain vigilant, supportive, and united.
