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Despite the Covid-19 pandemic and nationwide lockdowns and thanks to our Mozambique-based partners, our Malaria Prevention work continued in 2020.
CABO DELGADO PROVINCE – NORTHERN MOZAMBIQUE: EMERGENCY SUPPORT FOR REFUGEE CAMPS
The IS-linked insurgency in Mozambique’s northern province of Cabo Delgado has killed at least 2,600 people and displaced an estimated 670,000 since 2017. The attacks have gained in intensity and brutality and humanitarian aid agencies have raced to set up refugee camps around the provincial capital Pemba, to house thousands of impoverished Mozambicans fleeing their villages because of the ongoing violence. But with unseasonably heavy rains, malaria cases increased alarmingly, leading to calls for help from church groups and aid agencies.
Starting in June 2020 and thanks to the support of Coca Cola Mozambique (our logistical partners of many years), thousands of high-quality, insecticide-treated PermaNets were transported and distributed to women and children living in the Pemba refugee camps.
This support is ongoing but remains challenging and dangerous as the security situation worsens, especially after the devastating insurgent attack on the coastal town of Palma, 400Km from Pemba at the end of March 2021, which displaced thousands more people in the Cabo Delgado province.
CENTRAL MOZAMBIQUE: SUPPORT TO COMMUNITIES AFFECTED BY CYCLONES AND FLOODING
Insecticide-treated mosquito net distribution also took place in impoverished communities surrounding Gorongosa National Park where, due to cyclonic rains and flooding in 2020, malaria was again on the increase. This is a continuation of our support to this high-risk malaria region, which was previously devasted by Cyclone Idai in 2019.
In early 2021, with the New Defenders packed to the roof-racks, we also undertook an emergency dash to assist pregnant women and mothers of young children in flooded communities in the Limpopo River basin, after Cyclone Eloise hit the region causing a sudden rise in malaria. We also provided hundreds of elderly and poor-sighted villagers in these remote areas with eye tests and reading glasses as part of our Mashozi’s Rite to Sight humanitarian work.
SOUTHERN MOZAMBIQUE: GOODBYE MALARIA – INDOOR RESIDUAL SPRAYING PARTNERSHIP
Despite the Covid-19 challenges, the fantastic Goodbye Malaria teams expanded their indoor residual spraying work in 2020. 611,940 homes in three southern provinces of Mozambique were treated, keeping over 2 million people protected against malaria.
In addition: during the Covid-19 lockdown in South Africa, the Goodbye Malaria community-based sewing teams (who in normal years produce the hugely popular ‘shweshwe’ PJs, shorts and caps to raise funds for the indoor residual spraying work in Mozambique), turned their skills to creating tens of thousands of colourful, good-quality, washable facemasks to help reduce the spread of Covid-19. These continue to be distributed to rural communities as part of our ‘Feeding the Wildlife Community’ humanitarian efforts in South Africa. We’re incredibly proud to be founding partners of Goodbye Malaria and say ‘Muito Obrigado!’ to Robbie, Sherwin, Francois, Kim, Laure and their inspirational teams in Mozambique.
