CDC in Mozambique

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) opened an office in Mozambique in August 2000. CDC supports the Mozambique Ministry of Health (MoH) by addressing their immediate needs and by building long-term capacity to mitigate the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic through the U. S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Under the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI), CDC also guides malaria prevention and control activities.

HIV/AIDS

Mozambique has a generalized HIV/AIDS epidemic. HIV prevalence among men and women aged 15-49 is estimated at 11.5 percent. High rates of tuberculosis (TB) and malaria exacerbate the impact of HIV/AIDS. CDC supports the government of Mozambique in addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the following areas:

Prevention

• Scaling up medical male circumcision activities
• Supporting prevent mother-to-child transmission programs through technical assistance, policy development, and service implementation
• Delivering strategic HIV testing service with linkages to clinical and support services
• Building greater capacity for fully integrated positive prevention activities
• Providing post-exposure prophylaxis for HIV in occupational settings and for victims of gender-based violence
• Implementing a standards-based approach for medical infection prevention and control at 30 facilities
• Implementing HIV prevention interventions for the most-at-risk populations

Surveillance and Health Information Systems

• Supporting a Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program (FELTP)
• Supporting the Mozambique MoH to improve the availability, accessibility, quality, and use of service-delivery data
• Conducting HIV surveillance and behavioral surveys
• Designing and improving systems for routine program monitoring
• Developing research capacity
• Enhancing human resources in surveillance, informatics, and monitoring and evaluation through pre- and in-service training support

Laboratory Systems

• Developing strategic plans for the national laboratory network, for pre-service and in-service laboratory technician training, and for lab accreditation
• Supporting quality-assured lab testing for HIV and other diseases (HIV testing, CD4, TB, hematology, biochemistry) and for early infant HIV diagnosis
• Improving laboratory capacity at 47 sites that support implementing antiretroviral treatment (ART)
• Providing technical assistance and funding to strengthen national blood transfusion services in over 149 blood banks and developing a legal framework for blood transfusion issues

Care and Treatment

• Spearheading establishment of a national HIV quality improvement program
• Supporting the scale-up of novel interventions to address patient retention and to reduce the burden of care to patients and facilities
• Strengthening linkages between health facilities and community resources
• Providing technical assistance to develop national HIV and TB guidelines, policies, and programs
• Supporting the implementation of intensified TB case-finding, isoniazid preventive therapy, infection control, and HIV/TB integration

Transition to Country Ownership

• Transitioning clinical programs to Mozambican partners to ensure sustainability by funding 12 government and nongovernment organizations
• Performing expenditure analysis for partners and programs to maximize CDC implementation efficiencies

Malaria

In coordination with PMI, CDC provides leadership for research projects that guide the National Malaria Program in planning evidence-based interventions. Malaria prevention activities include indoor spraying, using long-lasting insecticide treated nets, and providing preventive treatment of pregnant women. CDC facilitates prompt and appropriate diagnosis and treatment with proven effective medical treatments. To assess the effectiveness of malaria control interventions CDC monitors and evaluates surveys and supports an impact evaluation.

Neglected Tropical Diseases

Mozambique has a high burden of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), with numerous areas of intense transmission of multiple NTDs. The MoH has been implementing disease-specific NTD programs throughout the country since 2009 and has developed an ambitious plan to scale-up each NTD program to achieve full coverage of all districts in the country where infection level requires mass treatment. An effective monitoring strategy is needed for this rapidly expanding national program. CDC is collaborating with the MoH and the National Health Institute of Mozambique to build the capacity to assess the progress of the national NTD program and measure the public health impact.

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