Maputo, 13 Jul (AIM) – The level of effective coverage of essential health services in Mozambique is 47 per cent, or less than half of the population, according to statistics presented on Wednesday by Health Minister Armindo Tiago.
He added that the percentage of Mozambican households who spend more than 10 per cent of their income or consumption on health is only 1.6 per cent.
Speaking in Maputo during the opening of a National Dialogue on Health for Universal Coverage, Tiago said these figures, although below the global average, mean that Mozambique is performing better than other countries in the southern African region.
He stressed that this positive performance of Mozambique is due to the universal access to the National Health Service, as well as the low costs for users.
Tiago said that currently Mozambique is suffering from a triple burden of disease, characterized by the high incidence of infectious diseases, of non-transmissible chronic diseases, and of trauma.
“The epidemiological transition under way, population growth and rapid urbanisation demand the expansion of the health system, and an increase in the complexity of the services”, he stressed, adding that the chronic nature of cardio-vascular diseases, of cancer and of diabetes imply high costs for the system.
Tiago warned that “increase in the coverage and technical capacity of the health services requires urgent investment”.
With the national dialogue on health financing, Tiago said the Mozambican government intends to share strategies for increasing domestic resources for health.
“We also want to involve the main stakeholders to mobilise sustainable financing for health, with a view to achieving universal coverage”, he declared.
Mozambique currently spends around 30 US dollars per capita annually on health expenditure, according to the international non-government organization ThinkWell.
According to a research unveiled by the organization on Wednesday, in Maputo, during a High Level Panel on Health Financing for Universal Coverage, this means that Mozambique is in a better position those countries such as Angola, which spends about 100 dollars per capita on health care.
“In Mozambique, you don’t have to pay large sums to access healthcare, something that is no longer the case in countries like Angola, where citizens must have money to pay for health care”, said Salomão Lourenço, the ThinkWell executive director.
“When this happens [payment as a condition for health care], the results in terms of effective coverage are low, because people don’t have the means”, he added.
According to ThinkWell, the investment made in the health sector is important to prevent citizens from facing catastrophic personal expenditure.
However, Lourenço pointed out that the Mozambican health sector needs funding in order to improve its infrastructures, acquire more equipment, medicines and medical supplies, as well as hire more human resources.
“When we look at the infrastructure component and, above all, at the ratio between inhabitants and health units, we can see that we are at less than half of what would be recommended”, he said.
(AIM)
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