Mozambique

In 1997, Pathfinder began our work in Mozambique. With a diverse portfolio still today, our projects share a common goal: to improve and uphold the sexual and reproductive health and rights of Mozambicans.

Why is family planning important? Judite, an activista outside the capital city Maputo, believes it's a woman's right to plan her pregnancies.

Through one project, we are working to prevent gender-based violence. Through another, integrating contraception into primary health services.

A key component of our HIV and AIDS work in Mozambique is to support key populations—like female sex workers and men who have sex with men—those at higher risk for HIV infection, who also experience the most stigma in seeking services.

Across every project, we strive to build the capacity of local communities, NGOs, and government agencies. Our goal is to scale up approaches that work and leave sustainable, government-owned health programs.

The central theme that we uphold through all of our programming in Mozambique is the right to health—providing women with information and access that empowers them to make positive decisions related to their sexual and reproductive health.

Pathfinder International has been working in Mozambique since 1997. Today, fifteen years after our first office opened in Maputo and twenty years after the end of the post-independence civil war, the country has made great strides related to the health and development of its people.

However, use of contraceptives, HIV prevalence, and maternal mortality due to unsafe abortion remain persistent problems for the country. Prevalence of modern contraceptive use among married women remains at only 11 percent, 13.1 percent of women and 9.2 percent of men between the ages of 15-29 test positive for HIV, and in the southern African region, unsafe abortion accounts for a death rate of 460 per 100,000.

Our work in Mozambique ranges from prevention of gender-based violence, with support from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to reproductive health, family planning and maternal health at the community and facility levels, encompassing areas such as HIV and malaria with funding from USAID.

And finally, a key component of Pathfinder Mozambique's work in HIV and AIDS includes support for key populations, including men who have sex with men and female sex workers—as these groups are not only at higher risk for HIV infection, but also experience the most stigma in seeking services. Our work with these populations seeks to increase access to clinical and community services that protect the client's human rights.