Mobile Hope: Life-saving assistance to displaced populations in Mozambique

Meet the Integrated Health Mobile Brigades in Mozambique. They ensure the continuation and provision of essential services and life-saving assistance to displaced populations.

Mozambique – IOM supports the deployed community health workers and health professionals. They work hard towards the health improvement of migrants in Montepuez, Cabo Delado, Memba, and Nampula.

From 07 – 10 December 2021, a total of 1,483 people were reached in Mecutane, Migela, Simuria and Otacone communities in Memba. In these communities, 858 people were vaccinated with the coronavirus vaccine. On the same dates, another team reached a total of 1,758 people in Ujama, Mararange, Marcune and Nanhupo B resettlement centres in the Montepuez district. 10 people were assisted with referrals for further health care services.

The mobile brigades provide populations with adult and paediatric health consultations, HIV and TB services, Obstetric consultations, nutrition services, health promotion and counselling services, vaccination, and assisted health referrals. There are additional mobile brigades ongoing in Chiure and Ibo districts of Cabo Delgdo.

An important topic when it comes to health is WASH: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene. The communities of Mazuane, Chapala, and Nikoma, in the district of Memba suffer from scarcity of water. 18 rainwater harvesting systems at communal level are being constructed benefitting a total of 426 families. Micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises rapidly resume operations and generate job opportunities, combined with access to education and skills development promoting durable solutions and community stabilization.

Through community engagement and inclusion in implementing activities, local artisans hired to build 100 pit latrines to help prevent and reduce open defecation will in turn train 100 families to further their skills and maintain the construction latrines. IOM supports skills-based labour mobility schemes and cooperation, addressing gaps revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic with a particular focus on workers in essential sectors.

IOM receives funding from the German Federal Foreign Office (GFFO) for “Strengthening IOM's COVID-19 Life-Saving Response in Humanitarian Settings” in several countries around the world as part of IOM’s Strategic Response and Recovery Plan for COVID-19 (SRRP). We would like to tell the stories of some of the people who benefited from this support.