Vehicles and motorbikes delivered to health ministry

Maputo, 7 Mar (AIM) – The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) on Wednesday delivered ten vehicles and 669 motorcycles to the Mozambican Ministry of Health.

Budgeted at over 2.5 million US dollars. the vehicles and the motorbikes were financed by the Global Alliance for Vaccination (GAVI) and the World Bank, and acquired via Unicef.

They will strengthen the capacity of integrated brigades of the Health Ministry, particularly in remote areas. One vehicle will be delivered to each of the ten provinces, and the 669 motorbikes will be distributed to 79 districts in the northern provinces of Niassa, Cabo Delgado and Nampula, the central provinces of Tete, Zambézia, Manica and Sofala, and Gaza and Inhambane in the south.

The deputy representative of Unicef in Mozambique, Yannick Brand, delivered these means of transport to Health Minister Armindo Tiago at a ceremony in Maputo.

Brand said they will be used for the routine vaccination of more than a million children in the nine provinces.

The vehicles have arrived at the right time, he said, since Mozambique is among the ten countries with the largest number of children who have so far received no doses of routine vaccination, due to difficulties in access.

“This situation can only be reversed through coordinated strategies, such as the investment we are witnessing today, and the creation of local capacity for the provision of high quality health services”, he declared.

“We must guarantee other pillars of the vaccination programme”, Brand added, “such as timely planning, access to vaccines, the creation of a demand for vaccination, monitoring and assessment”.

Tiago said that 267 of the motorbikes will be sent immediately to the northern provinces – 122 for Nampula, 85 for Niassa and 60 for Cabo Delgado.

“This prioritization results from our recognition of the challenges that these provinces currently face”, said the Minister.

He believes that the motorbikes will help increase the vaccination coverage by the integrated brigades, and well as other health intervention “in remote communities that cannot be reached by conventional vehicles”.

Population displacement by natural disasters or by terrorism, Tiago added, demanded greater readiness by the health brigades, wherever they may be.

(AIM)

Ac/sg/pf (363)