Maputo — Mozambican civil society organisations (CSOs) are demanding more investments in the health sector as a means to improve quality healthcare services provided to the people, especially in rural areas, where access is restricted due to long distances and poor basic conditions.
They argue that in remote and rural areas poverty and poor access to basic services contribute to low levels of education due to high dropout rates and, consequently, to a greater propensity for the population to take risks.
The CSOs made the call this Tuesday in Maputo, during a workshop titled "Added Value of Civil Society Involvement in the Implementation of the National Health Strategy, Lessons Learned and Good Practices".
Speaking at the opening ceremony, the executive director of the CSO Citizen's Observatory for Health, Jorge Matine, said that improving the quality of services in Mozambique depends heavily on public investment.
″This investment is made by domestic and foreign capital expenditure that is dedicated to the maintenance and construction of public infrastructure, acquisition of medicines, among other actions″, he stressed.
Matine noted that there are 1,680 health centres, of which 81 per cent are in rural areas and with a ratio of 17,659 inhabitants per health unit.
In addition, there are 66 hospitals, including general, district, rural, provincial, central and specialised.
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″These figures show that there is a growing need to ensure, not only construction of new infrastructures and training of qualified professionals, but also to ensure the implementation of a joint and effective strategy to respond to the country's needs and collaborate, at the same time, with the plans of donor institutions″, he explained.
For his part, the head of the Planning Department at the Health Ministry, Daniel Simone, acknowledged that civil society plays an important role in energising and operationalising the strategic objectives of the indicators in the government's Five-Year Programme 2020-2024, as well as in implementing the health policy strategy.
Civil society organisations also have the power to influence decision-making and ensure increased investments in the health sector.
″We are looking for added value, which means bringing innovation and investments into the health sector. It means we have to mobilise additional resources for health", he said.
"There is also a need to ensure accountability and transparency in the allocation and use of those resources, hence they reason to call the CSOs to play an integral and multi-sectoral role″, added Simone.
Amq/sg
