New mobile healthcare for communities in Cabo Delgado

New mobile health teams are visiting 20 communities in the Chiure District of Cabo Delgado to deliver essential healthcare to remote areas underserved by health services and facilities.

Most people living in these communities have been displaced by conflict in Cabo Delgado which has also caused the destruction and reduction of health facilities.

The two mobile brigade teams are responsible for addressing the gap in healthcare amongst isolated populations with a focus on maternal and child health.

Their priority will be a vaccination programme for all children (including for tuberculosis, measles and diphtheria), screening and treatment of malnutrition in children aged from 6 to 59 months, and the diagnosis, treatment and referral of complicated cases.

MENTOR is supporting the mobile teams comprised of technicians specialising in preventive and general medicine, pharmacy, nutrition, maternal and child health, and mental health during the six-week programme.

Abel Gastão, Preventive Medicine Officer, MENTOR mobile brigades programme, said:

“The mobile brigades reach many people who would otherwise not have access to healthcare because they are too far away from health units. The mobile brigades increase the coverage of the health system, reducing the wait for vaccination and avoiding alternative and less recommended means of traditional treatment.

Before any intervention in the community, MENTOR and the mobile brigade’s technical team meet with the head of the community to help sensitise the community to join the health programme, but also to help understand the community’s greatest needs.”

The mobile brigades are supported by UNICEF Mozambique and the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) and complement the malnutrition screening and treatment work that community health workers have been carrying out since July 2023.