Health authorities in Tete province gathered for the III Coordinating Council on Strenghtening Community Systems for Universal Health Coverage, a recurring institutional appointment to consolidate relations with international partners and enhance the results of a synergetic work. This year the Council was dedicated to health promotion at community level and the authorities recognized CUAMM’s commitment to collaborating with local actors. The recognition is not one-of-a-kind: in fact, CUAMM had already been awarded in 2019 for its commitment to supporting the provincial health system.
“A recognition that, once again, fills us with joy and motivates us to continue our commitment in this province,” said Giorgia Gelfi – Cuamm Country Representative in Mozambique after receiving the certificate of recognition from the health authorities in Tete.
Collaboration with communities and local actors is fundamental in achieving health objectives. Awareness-raising and health education on the ground are a pivotal element in the implementation of lasting and effective interventions, for which the involvement of community agents is fundamental. In the districts of Moatize and Angónia, and in the city of Tete, Cuamm has long been working in training young activists, key figures in the community and in the SAAJ – Servícios Amigos dos Adolescentes e dos Jovens which are youth counselling centres located in the health centres.
Community agents bridge local populations and health services by carrying out various activities: they inform about the basic and specialist services available in the health centres; they organise awareness-raising activities on prevention and health education issues; they animate the SAAJs, where they provide individual and collective counselling for young people; they convince their peers to test and not to be afraid of the diagnosis and are ready to support them during their treatment. Working within the SAAJs and in the villages, the community agents ensure continuity of care: they keep track of patients undergoing treatment and go to the field in case of missed appointments. Either a call or a home visit is often essential to bring faltosos– patients who shirk antiretroviral therapy – back to treatment.
“I am very excited to see this diploma,” says Emília Marcelo Cunamisana, a 28-year-old Cuamm activist. As an activist, receiving this recognition is an incentive to continue doing my part because it demonstrates the effectiveness of our role, the importance of dialogue with the population and therefore the value of collaboration between Cuamm and the communities”.
Operating in Mozambique since 1978, Cuamm arrived in Tete in 2017 with a programme on sexual and reproductive health in 3 districts of the province, for a target population of around 130,000 adolescents. Since then, the commitment has never stopped. In the last three years alone, thanks to the work of the community agents involved, 135,000 visits and 96,000 HIV tests have been carried out within 10 target SAAJs, while 66,000 young people have been educated and sensitized on sexual and reproductive health issues thanks to awareness-raising activities in the area. An intervention also made possible thanks to the support and contribution of the Government of Flanders.
