Japan donates ambulances to Mozambique

Photo: Twitter / @The Japanese government on Friday donated three ambulance to Mozambique aimed at improving provision of emergency health care in the northern provinces of Niassa, Nampula and Cabo Delgado.

The donation is part of the project to strengthen integrated services of sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence for displaced girls and women, as well as host communities.

Speaking during the ceremony, Health Minister Armindo Tiago said that Japan is a key and long-standing development partner of the Mozambican government, highly committed in supporting programmes that seek the social well-being of the Mozambican people.

According to Tiago, the health sector is among those that have benefited from Japan’s support, and this Friday’s donation is a clear indication.

“We are talking about the donation of vehicles to three provinces in the north of the country, affected by terrorism, which will contribute not only for the expansion and supply of vital sexual and reproductive health services, but also to respond to gender-based violence,” he explained.

Tiago recalled that lately the country has been ravaged by calamities and disasters, including cyclones, tropical storms and floods, terrorist attacks and the Covid-19 pandemic.

All these factors, the minister added, “force us to adapt our interventions to provide assistance to the populations that are often displaced, increasing demand in places not previously foreseen and also reducing our assistance capability in those areas affected by insecurity and destruction of infrastructures”.

He assured that the government will continue to work with its partners to ensure coverage of the needs in terms of ambulances for effective operation of referral and counter-referral of patients.

For his part, the Japanese ambassador Kimura Hajime said that his country has been working with the Mozambican government to mitigate the suffering of the people.

Therefore, he believes that the ambulances donated today will improve services rendered the displaced people in the northern part of the country.

“We are convinced that, with these vehicles, we are minimising the suffering of the close to a million displaced people, guaranteeing better and timely medical care”, he explained.

He announced that another 28 new ambulances are in the process of being imported, financed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Source: AIM