After two cyclones leaving death and devastation in their wake, Mozambique faces a post-disaster danger – cholera. While endemic to Mozambique, cholera infections skyrocketed after the recent storms, leading the Ministry of Health and international partners to launch massive vaccination campaigns. The outbreak shines a spotlight on Mozambique’s health-care and infrastructure sectors as rapid treatment and access to safe water and sanitation are vital to stopping the spread of
cholera – but difficult to provide to hundreds of thousands of citizens in hard-hit areas. Even before the cyclones, Mozambique struggled to ensure adequate health care and infrastructure amid challenges such as high levels of poverty and food insecurity. While health-care access, financing, infrastructure, and staffing have improved since the end of the civil war in 1992, the country’s health sector continues to rely on external financial support – and will likely need more in the wake of Idai
and Kenneth. In a national Afrobarometer survey in mid-2018, a majority of Mozambicans expressed
satisfaction with the government’s progress in improving basic health services, as well as with
their own experiences at public health facilities. But almost two-thirds of citizens – and almost
all of the poorest citizens – reported going without needed care during the previous year.
