Key facts: Mozambique
Last updated: May 2008
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- Population:
20.5 million (National Institute of
Statistics (INE), 2008).
- Average life expectancy:
42 years (INE, 2008). UK: 78 years (UN
Statistics Division (UNSD), 2007).
- Average per capita income:
US$348 (purchasing power parity (PPP) rate)
(African Economic Outlook, 2008). UK:
US$33,800 (PPP) (World Development
Indicators (WDI), 2007).
- Gross national income (GNI):
US$13.92 billion (PPP rate) (WDI, 2006).
- Average annual growth rate:
7.3% (INE, 2008).
- Percentage of people not meeting
daily food needs: 54% of the
population lives below the national poverty
line (World Food Programme, 2008).
- Women dying in childbirth:
408 per 100,000 live births (Demographic and
Health Survey (DHS), 2003). UK: 13 per
100,000 (UNSD, 2007).
- Children dying before age 5:
178 per 1,000 live births (DHS, 2003). UK: 6
per 1,000 (UNSD, 2005).
- Percentage of children
receiving primary school
education: 94% (Economic and Social
Plan Progress Report (BdPES), 2008).
- Percentage of people aged 15-49
living with HIV/AIDS: 16% (UNAIDS,
2007). UK: 0.2% (UNSD, 2005).
- Percentage of people with access to
safe, clean water: 33% in rural areas
and 66% in urban areas (World Development
Indicators, 2006).
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DFID: Working to reduce poverty in Mozambique
Governance | Health | HIV/AIDS
| Education | Humanitarian aid
| Water/sanitation/infrastructure
| Millennium Development Goals
Between 2002 and 2007, Mozambique received more than US$6 billion in
aid, of which DFID gave US$430 million (£239 million). Much of this
aid was in the form of
Poverty Reduction Budget Support
(PRBS), which enabled the Mozambique government to triple its
expenditure on education, health, infrastructure and agriculture.
Through its new country plan (2008–12), DFID will continue to focus
on increasing people’s access to higher-quality services in health,
HIV prevention, education, water and social protection. Across all
our work, there is a greater emphasis on helping poor people to hold
the government to account for better service delivery, and we will
also scale up our work on climate change.
Poor governance is a cause of poverty. People suffer when
governments don’t allow participation in political life, provide
access to justice, deliver adequate public services or control
corruption. Serious problems with governance still exist in much of
Africa, but the situation is improving.
DFID is also helping Mozambique’s citizens make government more
accountable in various ways, including:
- providing funds for a new Centre for Public Integrity, an
independent corruption ‘watchdog’
- supporting charities and other similar organisations to
increase their ability to monitor government, including the
launch of a support mechanism to fund and develop organisations
wishing to undertake governance monitoring and advocacy
activities
- aiding civilian organisations to prepare for and monitor
elections in 2008 and 2009
- helping poor people negotiate and secure their land rights.
Working with the Mozambican government, DFID is supporting:
- the introduction of a public financial management system
that is improve transparency, the control of expenditure and the
availability of information for citizens and Parliament
- direct anti-corruption initiatives, including anti-corruption
strategies in specific sectors such as health
- more effective and transparent tax and customs systems.
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Despite a decrease in the deaths of infants, children and mothers
and good immunisation coverage and increased access to
anti-retroviral drugs for HIV/AIDS, much remains to be done.
With just 874 doctors and 4,282 nurses for a population of over 20
million - one of the lowest ratios in the world - the lack of health
workers represents one of the greatest barriers to improving the
health of the majority of Mozambicans. DFID is pressing the
government of Mozambique to allocate additional finance to ensure
that there is a well-trained, supported and motivated health
workforce that is appropriately equipped.
DFID has a five-year (2007-2012) programme of support to the health
sector totalling £17 million, which will enable the Ministry of
Health to implement its strategy - in particular, ensuring that 90%
of children are fully immunised and 60% of mothers give birth in a
health facility.
DFID, other health donors and the government have also agreed to
improve the efficiency and management of aid to the health sector by
signing the
International Health Partnership
compact.
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Mozambique has the tenth highest prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS in
the world, and its infection rate remains high while they are
falling in neighbouring countries. Women between the ages of 20 and
24 are four times more at risk of contracting HIV than men.
Projections of the future impact of the HIV epidemic suggest that
average life expectancy will decline to 37 years by 2010.
In Mozambique, DFID is working directly with the government to
develop a strong prevention strategy and, through specific grant
agreements, with charities and other organisations to increase
people’s awareness of and knowledge about HIV/AIDS. Increasing the
number of health workers in the country will also have a positive
effect on controlling the epidemic. The target of both DFID and the
Mozambican government is to reduce the incidence of HIV among youth
to 10%.
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DFID will provide £46 million over 10 years (2006-16) to build on
improvements in the education sector. The period 2002 and 2007 saw
an increase of 1 million pupils in primary schools, to a total of
more than 4 million, which included about 468,000 more girls in
primary education. The number of pupils in secondary schools has
also increased from approximately 158,000 to about 254,000.
In addition, the Mozambique government will receive assistance from
the
Education Fast Track Initiative (FTI). This will help it tackle
gender disparity and address issues about quality of education. The
government and DFID are both aiming to double the number of girls
completing their upper primary education.
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DFID supports the Ministry of Women and Social Action’s programme
of unconditional cash transfers to the most vulnerable. Our ten-year
commitment of £20 million is helping the government increase the
number of people who benefit and the amount of cash they receive
each month.
We also stand ready to help Mozambique deal with crises such as
floods and droughts and are working with the government to implement
their new disaster risk-reduction strategy.
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With others, DFID is helping the government of Mozambique to
increase the delivery of clean water and sanitation to the
population. We’re working with the government to put in place a new
ambitious water and sanitation strategy and ensuring that, by 2009,
3,000 new rural water points will be built and maintained – putting
Mozambique back on track to meet the water element of MDG 7 (see
below).
We’re also providing ten-year support to the road sector for an
ambitious plan to improve the network and increase the proportion of
the population living within easy walking distance of an accessible
road. This support will focus on the maintenance of infrastructure.
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If Mozambique keeps to its targets, it will be on track to
achieve the majority of its MDGs – a startling achievement for a
country that was ranked as the poorest in the world less than 20
years ago. Huge challenges remain, however, including improving the
quality of services delivered – particularly in health and education
– and halting and reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS.
MDG 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
At the last household survey in 2002, some 54% of the population
lived below the national poverty line, with 44% deemed to be
malnourished and 35% being chronically food insecure. However,
between March and October 2007, about 113,000 people - 64% women and
36% - men benefited from the Food Subsidy Programme.
MDG 2: Achieve universal primary education
Primary school enrolment in 2007 was 94%. As a result, Mozambique,
with continued support, is on track to reach this MDG.
MDG 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
By 2006, the ratio of girls to boys in primary education was 86:100.
However, girls’ completion rate was only 29%.
MDG 4: Reduce child mortality
Between 1997 and 2006, there was a 37% fall in the deaths of
children under 5 in urban areas, from 219 deaths per 1,000 live
births to 135.
MDG 5: Improve maternal health
The number of deaths of women occurring during, shortly before or
after childbirth was halved between 1997 and 2003. However, in 2007,
there were still 198 deaths per 100,000 live births in hospital and
other facilities.
MDG 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
At 16% (2007), Mozambique has the tenth highest prevalence of
HIV/AIDS in the world. The number of malaria cases decreased
slightly in 2007 to 6,335,757, and the rate of tuberculosis cases
that were cured increased from 79% in 2006 to 82% in 2007.
MDG 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
During 2007, 1.2 million people benefited from the construction and
rehabilitation of wells and fountains, covering 49% of those
previously deemed to be in need. In urban areas, the achievement so
far has been 40%.
MDG 8: Develop a global partnership for development
One of the elements of this MDG is access to communication
technology. In 2006, 12 Mozambicans in every 100 had a mobile phone
subscription, compared with a mere 0.3 in 2000.
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