Mozambique

Recent floods devastated the city of Chokwe in Mozambique’s Gaza Province, leaving people in urgent need of medical care.

Medical Coordinator Lucas Molfino describes the situation in Chokwe, where a week of heavy rain has caused severe flooding.

While gains made in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the past decade are encouraging, countries most affected by the pandemic continue to struggle to place enough people on treatment and implement the best science and strategies to fight the disease.

Despite some encouraging trends among people living with HIV in Mozambique, a great deal of work remains to be done.

Several low-income countries highly affected by HIV risk being entirely or partly disqualified from the current funding round by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

The number of patients on treatment has risen dramatically over the last few years. At the end of August 2010, more than 200,000 patients were on ARV treatment in Mozambique, of whom more than 33,000 were being treated with the assistance of MSF.

Where resources are scarce, community groups can help maximize HIV/AIDS treatment and support each other.

In South Africa, where the FIFA World Cup is getting under way, MSF is trying to show that beating HIV/AIDS should be the ultimate goal.

Johanesburg/New York, May 27, 2010 - Backtracking by international donors of HIV/AIDS treatment risks undermining years of positive achievements and will cause many more unnecessary deaths, warned the medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in a new report released today.

Over three million people living with HIV/AIDS in the developing world receive antiretroviral therapy (ART). However, the medicines and diagnostic tools available are inadequate to respond fully to their needs. In addition, seven million people are in need of treatment and are still waiting for access.

Mopeia/Geneva, March 8, 2007 – An estimated 136,000 people have been displaced in Mozambique due to floods that affected the provinces surrounding the Zambezi river at the end of January 2007. Despite optimism over the initial aid response, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) expresses concern over the health situation of flood victims in Zambezia Province. MSF calls on the Mozambican government and humanitarian aid groups to urgently step up their interventions to ensure that food and non-food relief supplies reach the thousands of families affected by the floods.

Birgit Stümpfl, a German midwife, runs the MSF Chamanculo clinic for Prevention of Mother-To-Child Transmission (PMTCT).