Mozambique families rebuild after Cyclone Idai, with support from China
UNICEF supports children and families affected by disasters around the world.
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One night in March 2019, relentless, raging winds tore at the roof of Maria Faustinho Sikano’s house in rural Mozambique’s Nhamatanda district. At 4 a.m. the winds ripped the roof off completely. Maria grabbed her grandson and fled to the barn next to the house.
They survived, but they were left with nothing. “All the contents of the house, from dishes, food, money, everything was gone. There had been a lot of things inside, including goods I used to sell”, says Maria. Taking only a skirt and her grandson, she sought shelter at the nearby school. At the school, Maria found other people who had the same experience: homes destroyed, livelihoods in tatters.
Cyclone Idai was one of the worst natural disasters to hit southern Africa in decades. Millions of people in Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe were affected. Six weeks after Cyclone Idai struck, Cyclone Kenneth made landfall in northern Mozambique. The cyclones hit Mozambique the hardest, with 600 deaths, 161,000 people sheltered in displacement sites and 1.85 million people in need of humanitarian assistance.
Children were left vulnerable to outbreaks of diarrhoea, malaria and cholera, and much-needed health facilities were compromised by the cyclone. Floods had washed away harvests, leaving children and their families vulnerable to malnutrition.
UNICEF’s response
UNICEF was swift to act. “Taking into account the intensity of the cyclone, we quickly mobilized teams to be in the field to establish temporary reception centres, and to ensure the provision of health and nutrition services in these accommodation centres,” said Lucinda Manjama, Health and Nutrition Specialist UNICEF Mozambique.
Working with its partners, UNICEF prevented cholera outbreaks by providing safe drinking water and flying in nearly 900,000 doses of oral cholera vaccine. An estimated 67,500 children needed treatment for acute malnutrition, so UNICEF chartered flights with high energy biscuits, cartons of rehydration solution and therapeutic milk and food.
Support from the Government of China, through China’s International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDCA) helped UNICEF scale up its response and reach more children. With CIDCA’s support, UNICEF distributed 250,000 mosquito nets in the districts of Beira, Dondo, Buzi and Nhamatanda to prevent malaria, benefiting an estimated 450,000 people.
CIDCA also funded antimalaria kits and rapid tests. In another partnership with CIDCA, UNICEF provided refresher training courses for community health workers on malaria case management, and the treatment of diarrhoea and other common diseases.
In Beijing, UNICEF Chief of Public Partnerships Sae-Ryo Kim reflects on the collaboration with the Government of China, and its impact on children in Mozambique and other developing countries.
“China has made remarkable progress on children’s issues in the last four decades. It now has the opportunity to support other countries with their development,” she says. “That’s why UNICEF and the Government of China are working together to support children in more than 20 countries around the world, including Mozambique. I would like to thank the Government of China for their support – this is helping many children survive and thrive.”
Community outreach
Amélia Mauricio is one of the community outreach workers who travel to children’s homes to provide health services. Wearing a bright green vest to identify that she is a health worker, Amélia approaches a mother and her child who are sitting outside a simple house with a thatched roof. After talking to the mother and going over the child’s health record, Amélia gives the child a few drops of medication.
The child cries, but the mother soothes her and smiles at Amélia, knowing that her child is being taken care of. Amélia says, “Everything I teach in the community, the community accepts the information and practices that I teach them.”
Health workers back at the local hospital explain how UNICEF and CIDCA’s support benefited their community. Osório Amaral, a healthcare technician, says, “Thanks to the support of UNICEF, with the rehabilitation of hospitals, support with medicines, and to our community outreach workers, who are main partners in communities, who have had training in managing malaria cases. All of this ended in a positive way, helping us a lot here in the exchange between the health unit and the community.”
Joshua António, a doctor at Chirassicua Health Center says, “Today, [the community health workers] are continuing to support the treatment of malaria, malnutrition and other conditions”, adding, “This support was very welcome for us, and had a positive effect, because our lives and the lives of the communities changed a lot.”
UNICEF’s work for children in Mozambique is ongoing. As climate change continues, the region will continue to face devastating storms and other weather events. In March 2023, Cyclone Freddy caused disruption to water, sanitation and hygiene services. A rapid increase in cholera followed, with over 40,000 cases recorded as of December 2023. UNICEF worked to rapidly supply health centres with essential medicines, cholera beds, clean water, toilets, disinfection, and cleaning materials. It also supported vaccination campaigns and promoted water, sanitation and hygiene activities.
For Maria and her family, thanks to the China-funded project, they have now got their lives back on track. As well as helping families after Cyclone Idai, UNICEF’s support to community health workers has also boosted the ongoing malaria response in the area.
“I'm very happy because before if my child got sick, I had to pay to travel to the health centre,” Maria says. “Now, I can go to see our community health worker, even in the middle of the night.”
