Mozambique sits on the southeast coast of Africa. With access to trade via the Indian Ocean and an abundance of natural resources, its economy saw rapid growth soon after the turn of the century. Despite this, poverty reduction remains stagnant, and 46% of children are multidimensionally poor. Working to bring relief to the country’s most afflicted is a host of NGOs and government initiatives addressing some of the worst aspects of child poverty in Mozambique. 

Malnutrition 

Food insecurity and malnourishment are prevalent among children across the country, severely impacting their physical development. The rate of stunting among children under five was 36.4% in 2022. Despite showing moderate improvement over the last 20 years, the under-5 mortality rate remains high at 70 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2021. To make matters worse, a string of severe cyclones has impacted farming and food production. Additionally, conflict in the north has caused nearly 1 million people to be internally displaced and lacking food. In June 2022, one-third of the almost 90,000 displaced individuals were children. 

In a bid to stem the tide of food insecurity, the World Food Program (WFP) has been operating in Mozambique since 1977. Throughout the first six months of 2022, it provided food and medical assistance to 920,000 people. Additionally, it set up nutrition mobile clinics in hard-to-reach rural areas to diagnose and treat people suffering from acute malnutrition. It treated more than 19,000 vulnerable children aged six-59 months, 91.4% of whom fully recovered. Its efforts continue.

With education being key to poverty reduction, last year, the Ministry of Education and Human Development implemented the National School Feeding Program. Supported by WFP, it provided almost 220,000 pupils with nutritious locally sourced food, keeping them well-nourished and incentivizing them to stay in school while stimulating the local economy. 

HIV Infections 

One of the more malicious consequences of child poverty in Mozambique is the child HIV rate. The nation has one of the highest in the world. In 2021, approximately 160,000 children between 0-14 years old were living with HIV. Information shows that HIV newly infected 18,000 children, and there were 10,000 child deaths from AIDS-related illnesses in the same year. 

Tackling this challenge head-on is ECHO, a USAID-funded project that supports the Mozambican government in its fight to reduce HIV prevalence in the country. Its objective is for 95% of HIV-infected people to know they are infected, for 95% of this group to get treatment, and for 95% of this latter group to have a low viral load. 

As of 2022, 353,498 people have been diagnosed with HIV and started treatment, which is nearly twice the number since before the project started, giving them a better chance at living a fulfilling life. 

Child Marriage 

Child marriage is common in Mozambique, with 48% of girls being married before their 18th birthday. Furthermore, 14% are married before they reach the age of 15. In rural parts of the country, 44% of girls are pregnant before they reach 18. This forces girls to drop out of school, with less than half of them making it to fifth grade. In addition, only around 1% go to college. The female and male literacy rates (28% and 60% respectively) reflect this.

Child marriage perpetuates the cycle of poverty as it prevents girls from getting an education, a key indicator of poverty reduction. Girls Not Brides is an advocacy group aiming to end child marriage. Every extra year a girl spends in secondary school, she is six percentage points less likely to marry as a child. This could help to reduce child poverty in Mozambique.

In 2016, the group partnered with UNICEF and UNFPA to roll out the Global Program to End Child Marriage. This multifaceted program involves advocating for legislation to eradicate child marriage, multimedia awareness campaigns, community dialogues targeted at young people and improving access to family planning. 

It also inspired the hit radio show “Ouro Negro (Black Gold),” an entertaining and educational radio drama broadcasting on 118 radio stations across the country. This show explores a range of topical social issues, including child marriage. The media campaigns and community dialogues reached a whopping 5.9 million people in 2018 alone and around 13 million people between 2016 and 2019.

The partnership also provided school fees and materials for 6,466 girls to attend secondary school and successfully dissolved 461 cases of child marriage. This strategy also promotes gender equality, reduces domestic violence and lowers the likelihood of contracting HIV.

The Law on Premature Unions

The campaign played a major role in the Mozambican government’s decision to pass the Law on Premature Unions in 2019, making it illegal to enter into a marriage until the age of 18. Enforcement of the law has been slow, with one in two girls still marrying prematurely. However, this is partly due to a lack of knowledge of the new law on the part of public servants, as well as the fact that many ordinary citizens lack access to law enforcement and legal services. 

There has also been an upturn in the number of female members of parliament in the last two decades. Women make up 45.5% of the executive branch as of 2021, compared to 20% in 2004. Stakeholders hope this will result in greater enforcement of the new law in the coming years.    

Looking Ahead

Life for children in Mozambique can seem precarious at times. However, the work that individuals and institutions are doing may just provide them with the means to escape some of the worst aspects of poverty and live prosperous and fulfilling lives.  

– Marcos Caro
Photo: Flickr