HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis are widespread in Mozambique. 15 per cent of people aged 15 to 49 are infected with HIV making it one of the worst affected countries in the world.  The national healthcare system was shattered during the 16 years of civil war that ended in 1992, as were most social and economic infrastructures.

All Médecins Sans Frontières projects are focused on HIV/AIDS treatment and care, including the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of the disease. In the capital Maputo, teams work in two districts, supporting two day-hospitals and nine health centres. Teams train staff, and provide psychosocial counselling for HIV-positive patients, including children. 18,000 patients are receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART).

Médecins Sans Frontières is developing and promoting innovative models to help meet the high demand for healthcare and is lobbying the government to introduce a ‘task shifting’ approach in hospitals to help to counter the shortage of doctors and nurses. This includes training local medical staff to prescribe ART drugs and administer repeat prescriptions, and permitting the use of lay counsellors.

Médecins Sans Frontières is supporting the care and follow-up of HIV-positive patients in provincial hospitals in the northwest of the country and is providing technical support to health centres. In Tete city, following a decentralisation of patient care from hospital to health centre level, the project is now focused on training and supervision of Ministry of Health staff, with the view to handing back the project in 2010.

During 2009, Médecins Sans Frontières carried out 240,500 consultations and provided ART to 25,500 patients.

Médecins Sans Frontières has worked in Mozambique since 1984.