Mozambique: Health Minister warns of ‘alarming’ impact of international aid cuts

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Mozambique: Health Minister warns of ‘alarming’ impact of international aid cuts

2:42 CAT | 24 Jun 2025

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Lusa]

Mozambican Minister of Health Ussene Isse has warned that the “significant and abrupt” reduction in international funding is having “alarming” effects on that sector, worsening difficulties in areas such as logistics, supply of medicines and human resources.

“Amid the growing challenges in health, there is also the significant and abrupt reduction in international funding in the health sector, the impact of which is already proving alarming for the country,” Minister Isse said yesterday during the biannual meeting to define and implement health sector policies and strategies in Maputo.

In particular, the suspension of international aid from the United States of America to several countries since January is at issue.

“Indeed, we have a moral duty to prevent anything that may happen and that is inevitable for our populations and I take this opportunity, once again, to highlight the issue of having a single strategic operational approach,” Isse stressed.

Minister Isse explained the impacts of these cuts in international funding on logistics, the supply chain of medicines, transport and also on human resources, calling for funding for the health sector, a position that was supported by the representative in Mozambique of the World Health Organization (WHO), Severin R von Xylander, who warned of the impacts in that area.

In view of the constraints that the sector faces, the health minister stressed the need to discuss new forms of funding.

“I want to take this opportunity to launch a great challenge to all of us, to have a national dialogue on the financing of the health sector. One plan, one financing and a single monitoring plan. This is what will guide us in this decision that we will have to make together,” he said.

For the minister, professionals have a “clear mission” not to allow Mozambicans to suffer from “preventable diseases” due to a lack of “good care”, medicines or other hospital consumables.

“It is in this context that we have defined the following priorities: strengthening the resilience of the supply chain of medicines, surgical medical supplies, reagents and others, integrated planning and financing starting at district level and strengthening public finance management,” the minister said.

Ussene Isse also defended the need for reforming the Ministry of Health, in order to “focus on the priorities” of Mozambique.

“We have to bring something that will benefit patients first and foremost and anything that is done or suggested that will not benefit patients, we will not allow that to happen in the Ministry of Health, because resources are scarce and we have to do a lot with the little that we have,” he concluded.

Source: Lusa