Reflection Webinar on the Current Challenges of the Health Sector in Mozambique

The debate began with a welcome given by the Executive Director of OCS, Jorge Matine, who stated that, “in recent years, the National Health System has been in permanent crisis”, as there are several dilemmas faced at the same time. On the one hand, “infrastructure has become insufficient, due to population growth”. Even “despite more human resources being trained, these were never enough and never had the desired quality”. On the other hand, “the low efficiency of the system itself”.

Jorge Matine highlighted that the State was never able to generate enough financing to cover minimum expenses, due to pressure in recent times, which has led to constant strikes.

In turn, the first participant of the event, Anselmo Muchave, President of the Association of United Health Professionals of Mozambique (APSUM), stated that “the problems faced in recent times are old and that the National Health System needs to be updated and adjusted to the current reality”. In order to respond not only to the demands of health professionals, but also to the needs of users of services provided in the country's health facilities, also looking at all-inclusive and decentralized components.

For Hélder Muando, representative of the Municipality of Maputo, “it is necessary to know and identify very well the epidemiological profile of the Mozambican population, particularly where health challenges are intended to be discussed, so as not to think that the Government is not investing in a certain area, combining, also, with the demographic density that illustrates what stage the population is at and create solutions to resolve these dilemmas”.

According to Policarpo Ribeiro, project manager at medicusmundi and member of the Alliance for Health, “the challenges faced in the financial sphere are often linked to the type of financing that is carried out”. This public health specialist highlighted, however, that “now the country is in line with the State Budget, but with External Financing a clash of agendas is created”. In other words, “the country has sectors [and programs] that it considers a priority to invest in, but so do organizations”.

In the same line of thought, he stated that “the lack of transparency in fund management, the absence of inclusive policies and the low participation of Civil Society Organizations have worsened the challenges in the health sector in the country”.

The last participant of the webinar, João Nhampossa, jurist and Human Rights defender, made a connection between the right to demonstrate and Human Rights (HR), stating that both are fixed in the Constitution of the Republic of Mozambique. He called for looking at these two aspects at the same time, in order to find solutions to challenges in the health sector.

The webinar ended with final summary comments from António Mate, coordinator of the OCS public participation pillar, who highlighted that “the dilemmas faced in the health sector are very complex, looking at the different groups that make up society”. Finally, he stated that “this reflection sought to add more strategic solutions to resolve the different problems listed during the event”.