By the end of 2022, nearly one million people were internally displaced in Cabo Delgado due to fighting between non-state armed groups and government forces, in a conflict that has been running since 2017.
From June, as the violence moved southwards, thousands of families were displaced within days.* Simultaneously, thousands of others opted to return to their homes, despite the lack of services and destruction caused by the conflict.
Since 2019, we have been responding to the increasing needs of displaced and host communities in the province, particularly in areas that receive little or no assistance. Our activities include general healthcare, mental health and psychosocial support, distribution of relief items, health promotion, and water, hygiene and sanitation services.
In 2022, we worked in Macomia, Mocimboa da Praia, Palma and Mueda districts, and sent mobile teams to Meluco, Muidumbe and Nangade, to provide healthcare and distribute relief items. Meanwhile, we handed over our activities in Metuge to the Ministry of Health.
In Beira, Sofala province, we run a sexual and reproductive healthcare programme that includes safe abortion care, HIV testing, and treatment for sexual and gender-based violence for stigmatised groups, such as sex workers and men who have sex with men. We also support the implementation of national guidelines on HIV treatment for these groups of people, and provide care for advanced HIV at Beira central hospital and 10 health centres. In 2022, we helped to rehabilitate health centres damaged in tropical storm Chalane and cyclone Eloise.
In Nampula, MSF started to work with the Ministry of Health to improve preventive and curative care for vector-borne and neglected tropical diseases, and surveillance and preparedness for emergencies such as cholera outbreaks and natural disasters.
* OCHA Situation Report – Displacement influx in Cabo Delgado and Nampula, Mozambique, 1 June to 21 July 2022
