{mosimage}Health Partnerships in Mozambique Supported by the American People Receive Visits from U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael O. Leavitt and Other Senior U.S. Government Officials
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael O. Leavitt talks with children in a community that will benefit from investments by the U.S. Government's Millennium Challenge Corporation in clean water and sanitation, in Quelimane, Zambézia Province, Mozambique. (Photo by Jack McNeill, HHS)
August 24, 2007 – U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Michael O. Leavitt and other senior U.S. officials saw the results of the American taxpayers' investments in Mozambique as part of a 10-day trip to observe, first-hand, the impact on local communities of several of the Bush Administration's international humanitarian priorities, including the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the President's Malaria Initiative, and the Millennium Challenge Corporation. They also met with national government officials, university educators and students, and local groups to get feedback and reiterate the commitment of the American people to the nation of Mozambique in fighting disease and fostering prosperity.
Secretary Leavitt and his delegation started their day at the Ponta Gêa Health Center in Beira, Sofala Province, Mozambique, as they continued their four-country African journey. At the clinic, the delegation witnessed a presentation of HIV-prevention messages by a community-based street-theater group, Programa de Actividade Cultural (PAC), which uses acting and dancing to encourage healthy behaviors by young people. Secretary Leavitt expressed appreciation for the theater group's creative methods for disseminating health messages, and reiterated the importance of abstinence and faithfulness as strategies to prevent the transmission of HIV.
Managed by Health Alliance International (HAI), Ponta Gêa is the largest health facility in Beira, Mozambique's second-most-populous city, outside of the Beira Central Hospital, and serves an estimated population of 150,000. HAI receives funding from the President's Emergency Plan, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), to implement confidential, voluntary counseling and testing; prevent the transmission of HIV from mothers to their babies; provide anti-retroviral therapy to HIV-positive patients; and extend home-based care in all 13 Districts in Sofala Province, including the one Ponta Gêa serves.
After the morning's events at Ponta Gêa, Secretary Leavitt addressed the first graduating class of the medical school of the Catholic University of Mozambique (UCM), in Beira. He discussed with students and faculty the need for trained health workers in Mozambique and other health-related challenges the country faces. In 2006, a twinning program financed by the President's Emergency Plan through the HHS Health Resources and Services Administration began between UCM and the University of Pittsburgh. The pairing has launched a training program on anti-retroviral therapy for technicians in a nearby Ministry of Health training institution.
The U.S. delegation then traveled to Quelimane in Mozambique's Zambézia Province, where they visited a community in which water availability, sanitation, and drainage is poor and residents will benefit from a recently signed MCC compact. The delegation viewed the area with local government officials and walked through the neighborhood speaking with residents. Established in 2004, the MCC is a U.S. government corporation whose mission is to reduce global poverty through the promotion of sustainable growth. The Board of the MCC bases its funding decisions on the principle that aid is most effective when it reinforces good governance, economic freedom, and investments in people. The MCC signed a compact with the Republic of Mozambique in July 2007. MCC assistance to the Quelimane water and sanitation site will benefit the surrounding communities by reducing the incidence of malaria and diarrheal diseases.
At their final stop in Mozambique, Secretary Leavitt and the other U.S. government leaders visited the Novo Centro do Instituto da Saúde in Quelimane, a faith-based initiative of the Inter-Religious Council Against Malaria financed by the President's Malaria Initiative. After a discussion with religious leaders, the delegation paid a short visit to a classroom of nurses in training, and then met representatives of a number of different non-governmental organizations to hear about their health-related work in the area.
