By Own Correspondent
MAPUTO, Mozambique — Mozambique has launched a $175 million child survival plan aimed at sharply reducing deaths among children under 5.
The government wants to lower the mortality rate from 60 to fewer than 35 deaths per 1,000 live births by 2030.
The Ministry of Health launched the Child Survival Action Plan for 2026-2030 on July 20 in Maputo province, according to the World Health Organisation.
The plan will expand primary health care, strengthen nutrition and immunisation programs and improve access to medicines and medical supplies.
It will also target premature births, oxygen deprivation during birth, neonatal infections, congenital conditions, pneumonia, diarrhoea, malaria and malnutrition.
Quinhas Fernandes, Mozambique’s national director of public health, said the country’s progress had not reduced the urgency of the problem.
“Sixty per 1,000 live births is still a figure that should concern us,” Fernandes said.
“Many children continue to die from preventable causes”.
The government will also seek to distribute medicines, health infrastructure and other resources more equitably across the country.
Mozambique’s first lady, Gueta Chapo, called on families, community leaders, health workers, teachers, businesses and development partners to support the plan.
“Let us make child survival a true civic movement,” Chapo said during the launch.
Mozambique has made substantial progress in protecting young children.
The country reduced its mortality rate for children under 5 by 70% from 201 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1997 to 60 in 2022.
A UNICEF Mozambique child mortality brief documented the decline.
However, Mozambique’s rate remains more than twice the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal target of 25 deaths per 1,000 live births.
Even if Mozambique reaches its national target of fewer than 35 deaths by 2030, it will remain above the global goal.
UNICEF also recorded 24 newborn deaths per 1,000 live births, double the global target of 12.
The agency linked children’s chances of survival to maternal health, nutrition, health care and access to safe water and sanitation.
About 4.9 million children worldwide died before reaching their fifth birthday in 2024.
“No child should die from diseases that we know how to prevent,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said when UNICEF and its partners released the global estimates in March.
Sub-Saharan Africa records the world’s highest risk of death before age 5, according to WHO.
WHO said Mozambique will need sustained financing, cooperation among different sectors and active community participation to implement the plan successfully.
The WHO and Diário Económico reports did not state how much of the $175 million budget the government has secured
