Mozambique
We work with Mozambique's public and private health sectors to make high-quality health care and services, like family planning and safe surgical care, accessible to all.
MOMENTUM is partnering with nearly 40 countries to accelerate progress and advance USAID’s work to save lives and improve health outcomes for women, children, families, and communities in all of their diversity. MOMENTUM brings together specialized technical and country expertise through six distinct yet integrated awards with the depth and breadth of experience to spur reductions in maternal, newborn, and child mortality and morbidity.
Four MOMENTUM projects—Country and Global Leadership, Private Healthcare Delivery, Routine Immunization Transformation and Equity, and Safe Surgery in Family Planning and Obstetrics—collaborate with the Mozambican Government and local and national organizations to increase the coverage and quality of programs for obstetric fistula care and prevention, safe obstetric surgeries, voluntary family planning, primary health care, routine immunization, and COVID-19 vaccine distribution.
Treating and Preventing Obstetric Fistula
Each year, an estimated 2,500 Mozambican women suffer from new cases of obstetric fistula—a maternal injury that occurs when obstructed labor or a surgical error leaves a hole in the birth canal, causing chronic leakage of urine or feces.1 Access to fistula repair services is limited, and women living with fistula often experience stigma, abuse, and violence. MOMENTUM Safe Surgery in Family Planning and Obstetrics collaborates with the Mozambican Ministry of Health and Focus Fistula, a local organization, to help health providers and systems in Nampula and Niassa provinces prevent obstetric fistula and provide holistic care for women experiencing it. This includes preparing providers and systems to treat fistula, as well as rehabilitating women who have experienced the condition and helping them reintegrate into society after receiving care.
Learn about the connection between gender-based violence and fistula on our blog.
Strengthening Mozambique’s National Data System
Mozambique’s national death registration system, the Sistema Comunitário de Vigilância em Saúde e de Eventos Vitais, or Sis-COVE, has publicly available data on mortality and causes of death both at the national and provincial levels. MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership is working with Mozambique’s National Institute of Health so the data can be used to make effective decisions and help Mozambican women and children live healthier, longer lives.
Delivering Family Planning Through the Private and Public Sectors
From September 2021 to February 2023, MOMENTUM Private Healthcare Delivery tapped into the potential of Mozambique’s fast-growing private health sector to help make high-quality family planning and primary health care services more accessible to all. MOMENTUM used a consultative process to develop modes of health care tailored to local contexts and desirable to both governments and communities. This process built on recommendations from previous private health sector assessments and included stakeholders such as the Ministry of Health, local private sector associations, USAID, and implementing partners. We incorporated the perspectives of potential clients and health providers to promote widespread, equitable access to health care throughout Mozambique.
In May 2023, MOMENTUM launched an activity building on these efforts to engage Mozambique’s private healthcare sector. To help shape representation and stewardship of the private sector as part of the wider health system, MOMENTUM is working with pharmacies and private clinics to expand access to quality health information, products, and services; improve the quality of private sector health care services; and ensure improved engagement between the private and public healthcare sectors.
MOMENTUM Safe Surgery in Family Planning and Obstetrics partners with the public sector to expand access to a full range of family planning methods in Nampula and Niassa provinces. We work with the Ministry of Health to train providers on long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs), such as intrauterine devices, and permanent methods of contraception, such as tubal ligation. Our training includes how to counsel clients about these methods and managing side effects, as well as inserting and removing LARCs.
Expanding Family Planning Use and Access for Mozambican Youth
As of 2018, 46 percent of girls ages 15 to 19 in Mozambique had begun childbearing.2 The government has prioritized family planning to prevent early and unintended pregnancies, which can pose health risks for both mother and child. To bolster these efforts, MOMENTUM Private Healthcare Delivery tailored tools from the Vale-a-Pena program for the Nampula province from September 2021 to February 2023. The program, whose name means “it’s worth it” in Portuguese, used tools like videos and dialogues with parents and community leaders to increase demand for contraception among young people in underserved areas. MOMENTUM also partnered with local civil society organizations to promote family planning awareness and informed choice of contraceptive methods and adapt Vale-a-Pena’s proven interventions to local contexts.
Learn more about MOMENTUM’s efforts to strengthen youth health care and leadership.
Reaching Every Child With Routine Immunization Services
Nearly one in five children in Mozambique are considered zero-dose, meaning they have not received a single dose of the vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis.3 MOMENTUM Routine Immunization Transformation and Equity works with the Government of Mozambique at the national level and in Nampula and Zambézia provinces to support and monitor implementation of the Reaching Every District/Reaching Every Child approach, designed by the World Health Organization to address common obstacles to routine immunization in areas with low coverage. We collaborate with service providers, community leaders, families, and caregivers—particularly those in marginalized and underserved communities— to create solutions that address entrenched challenges.
The COVID-19 pandemic made it harder for people to access routine immunization services. Together with local and national stakeholders, MOMENTUM analyzed reasons for delayed and missed childhood vaccinations and adjusted vaccination program approaches to protect Mozambicans from vaccine-preventable infectious diseases throughout their lives, especially early in life. MOMENTUM aims to strengthen services to better identify and reach zero-dose and under-immunized children; spur community engagement; improve data quality and use; foster partnerships to build support for routine immunization and COVID-19 vaccination; overcome obstacles to rolling out COVID-19 vaccines, including barriers to planning, demand and acceptance, access, and coverage; and foster support for polio vaccination campaigns in Nampula and Zambézia provinces.
Discover how MOMENTUM maintained focus on routine immunizations throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Helping Mozambique Deliver COVID-19 Vaccines
MOMENTUM Routine Immunization Transformation and Equity is partnering with the Mozambican Ministry of Health and nongovernmental organizations in Gaza, Nampula, and Zambézia to help identify and reach high-priority populations for COVID-19 vaccination, validate estimates of population size, and design strategies to deliver vaccines and boosters. We also work with the government to manage supply chains so that COVID-19 vaccines are safe, widely available, and properly delivered.
MOMENTUM also works with health workers to increase their capacity to deliver COVID-19 vaccinations. We engage with professional health and business associations to encourage workers to get vaccinated and advocate for vaccination in their communities. We partnered with the Confederation of Economic Associations in Mozambique to engage the private sector in COVID-19 vaccination. We also work with the United Nations Children’s Fund, Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs, and the Inter-Religious Program Against Malaria (PIRCOM), to create strategic communications plans and community engagement programs to promote the vaccine.
We are also working with the national government and governments in Gaza, Nampula, and Zambézia to improve the use of data collection and monitoring tools for COVID-19 vaccination and to integrate digital health platforms into training programs for health workers.
Learn more about how we supported COVID-19 vaccination in Mozambique.
Our Achievements in Mozambique
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20 Surgeons Trained
From October 2021 to September 2022, MOMENTUM trained 20 surgeons on fistula diagnosis and repair, and 175 women received surgical fistula repairs at MOMENTUM-supported facilities.
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58 Health Facilities Supported
We provided technical assistance to identify and prioritize zero-dose and under-immunized children with routine immunization services at 58 health facilities in Nampula and Zambézia provinces.
MOMENTUM Country and Global Leadership: Instituto Nacional de Saúde (INS), Johns Hopkins University, Jhpiego
MOMENTUM Private Healthcare Delivery: PSI Mozambique
MOMENTUM Safe Surgery in Family Planning and Obstetrics: EngenderHealth, Ministry of Health (MISAU), Provincial Health Directorate of Nampula (DPS Nampula), Provincial Health Directorate of Niassa (DPS Niassa), Focus Fistula
MOMENTUM Routine Immunization Transformation and Equity: Ministry of Health (MISAU)/ Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI); Alançar; Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI); Confederation of Economic Associations (CTA); Directorate of Health (DPS); District Health, Women, and Social Action Services (SDSMAS); Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF); Friends in Global Health (FGH); Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; Improved Family Planning Initiative; Inter-religious Program against Malaria (PIRCOM); Medicines, Technologies, and Pharmaceutical Services (MTaPS) Program; National Institute of Statistics (INE); Procurement and Supply Chain Management Project (PSM); Provincial Health Services (SPS); Save the Children; Transform Nutrition; UNICEF; VillageReach; World Health Organization (WHO)
Interested in partnering with us or learning more about our work in Mozambique? Contact us here or check out our regional reference brief.
Learn more about USAID’s programs in Mozambique.
References
- United Nations Population Fund Mozambique. “In Mozambique, an obstetric fistula survivor’s journey from ‘I was nothing’ to ‘I am capable of everything.’” May 21, 2020. https://www.unfpa.org/news/mozambique-obstetric-fistula-survivors-journey-i-was-nothing-i-am-capable-everything
- Instituto Nacional de Saúde – INS e ICF. 2019. Inquérito Nacional sobre Indicadores de Malária em Moçambique 2018. Maputo, Moçambique. Rockville, Maryland, EUA: INS e ICF
- WHO and UNICEF. Mozambique: WHO and UNICEF estimates of immunization coverage: 2020 revision. July 8, 2021. https://cdn.who.int/media/docs/default-source/country-profiles/immunization/immunization_moz_2021.pdf?sfvrsn=5d6430e1_7&download=true
Last updated December 2023.