Richard Veerman Quotations

We are afraid the outbreak is out of control. Cholera was already spreading at a very fast rate. Yesterday it started raining, which will only make it more difficult to stop the epidemic.

Yesterday in Boa Vista, all 180 beds were occupied. This morning we managed to add 20 more. Yet, right now we are even forced to have patients share their beds.

Many factors have conspired to make this cholera outbreak one of the worst ever seen in Angola. But with what we know today there can be no excuse for not doing everything humanly possible to prevent the death toll from climbing much higher.

We have not yet reached the peak of this epidemic.

Today we have not yet reached the peak of this epidemic. Even based on conservative estimates, the toll of this epidemic will be extremely high.

Everybody was slow to react. Many factors contributed to make this cholera epidemic, one of the worst in Angola.

On top of all these difficulties we find that many people do not reach our centers early enough, either because they do not find transportation or because they are simply scared of moving around the city after nightfall, when the streets are unsafe.

All of our centers are running at maximum capacity.