It is scheduled to last four years and is funded by the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for Development (AECID). medicusmundi project aims to strengthen the health sector in its fight against malnutrition, particularly in the districts of Montepuez, Namuno and Ancuabe, in Cabo Delgado, through the revitalization of Primary Health Care and incidence on Social Determinants of Health.
Combating malnutrition is a challenge that goes far beyond the capacity of a country's health services. We are facing a health problem that must be analyzed comprehensively, so that all social determinants, such as poverty, low education level, cultural aspects, among others, are taken into account.
Chronic malnutrition in Mozambique reaches 43% (in children under 5 years old), which significantly affects infant mortality and decreases the cognitive capacity of those who survive. The situation in the north-central region of the country is the most worrying, particularly in the province of Cabo Delgado. The province has severe food insecurity, registering the worst indicators of child malnutrition in the country. It has one of the highest rates of acute malnutrition, with the districts of Montepuez, Namuno and Ancuabe being the most affected, with more than 30% of cases, accumulating 46% of deaths from severe malnutrition in 2017.
Given this scenario and continuing the work already carried out in that region, medicusmundi intends to implement a socio-health development strategy, aiming to promote structural changes in terms of improving services, training health professionals, supporting research and mobilizing the civil society.
Beyond the Alliance-CSP consolidation as a reference platform for the generation and exchange of knowledge, political dialogue will be promoted and the first School of Activism in Health will be created in the country, in which distance education and the use of digital media (such as social networks), radio and community spaces, will play a key role. Creation of training materials, promotion of training sessions and award of scholarships for attending the master's degree in nutrition are foreseen. National research will be strengthened, as will the essential spaces for academic dissemination and divulgation by holding, for example the II International Conference on SDH. Civic awareness campaigns will be carried out, in collaboration with some civil society organizations, and the production of documentary “Nutrition and Health” is also planned with broadcast, among other forums, in the II Film Series on the Right to Health in Mozambique .
medicusmundi will act as a provider of technical assistance and coordinator of the actors involved, promoting the implementation of the intervention by human resources and managers of the National Health Service.