Young & agile
• Chapter summary
Interviews for this chapter in 2020 were understandably predictable in tone, given the global spread of COVID-19 and the weak health infrastructure available in Mozambique.
Before the novel coronavirus, Mozambique had its fair deal of health emergencies, some of which are still ongoing. Mozambique is the thirdmost malaria-striken country in the world: every year, one-third of the population—more than 8 million people—is infected and an estimated 12,000-17,000 die. There has been some slight improvement in numbers in recent years thanks to government efforts combined with international support, but a lot more needs to be done.
Mozambique also reports one of the highest HIV rates in the world, similar to other southern African countries, and, in the beginning of 2020, it witnessed a new cholera outbreak in the northern province of Cabo Delgado. As Beatriz Ferreira, founder of Instituto Coração, puts it, “In such a scenario, there is very little space for research; emergency is the norm, and all efforts go in this direction.” Despite this, according to the new General Director of Maputo Central Hospital, Mouzinho Saide, health facilities and equipment are improving YoY, and this is enabling Mozambican doctors to save more lives. However, many feel that this is not sufficient, pointing out that the size of the population, expected to double by 2050, is offsetting any technical or medical improvement.
In this complicated context of being accustomed to disease outbreaks, it is understandable that COVID-19 spread less panic in Mozambique than elsewhere. And on top of this, the Mozambican government was quick to declare a state of emergency and implement all key measures of social distancing. Prevention was key in a country with only one ventilator per million people at its disposal. And prevention was very much aided by Mozambique’s ability to witness and learn from the experiences of other countries that were affected beforehand. Further limiting the spread and severity of cases is the country’s extremely young population—more than 45% of the population is under 18. Ultimately, all these factors have shifted the focus from the health impact to the economic impact. The key question on everyone’s mind is: how can people stay at home when they depend on daily earnings to survive?
One positive effect of COVID-19, according to Jorge Ribeiro, Managing Director of Medimport, is that the virus has served as a wake-up call for the country to stop relying on imports and increase local production capacities. Part of the response of Minister of Health Armindo Tiago, unanimously praised by all interviewees for his handling of the pandemic, has been to coordinate efforts with other institutions like the Confederation of Economic Associations and the Ministry of Industry to start the production of masks and alcohol gel locally.
The pandemic has also had an incredibly disruptive effect on the education sector, where schools have remained closed for a good part of the academic year so far. It is in this sense that Mozambique’s age demographics pose a problem, given that almost one-third of the population is of school age. Orlando Quilambo, Rector of Universidade Eduardo Mondale, was just one of the people we spoke to who voiced early concerns regarding teaching online classes with limited internet connections available. Of course, stopping is not an option. Like all sectors of the economy, universities are facilitating Mozambique’s nascent LNG industry, offering a wide range of courses related to oil and gas, engineering, and more. There is still some disconnect between private and public universities, with public classrooms experiencing overcrowding and private institutions looking to increase enrolment. Additionally, there is some pessimism regarding the current possibilities offered by the job market and the growing brain drain. But, overall, there is faith that the future will be bright once the world starts moving again and Mozambique’s economy is back on an upward trajectory. ✖