PATH works hand in hand with the government using a systems-based approach that ensures sustainable, country-owned progress in building capacity and resilience within the existing health system. Our technical expertise has been sought by the government to support policy development, the creation of responsive monitoring and evaluation systems, and the integration of innovative tools and messaging across national, provincial, and local levels of primary health care (PHC). PATH is currently providing technical assistance to the PHC Department to develop an operational plan to the community health subsystem strategy, the government’s key strategy on the road to universal health care. We're working collaboratively with the Ministry of Health and partners to scale up the use of digitally enabled health platforms by community health workers in Mozambique working on critical, crosscutting health issues along the life cycle.

PATH is the global leader in early childhood development (ECD) services for the youngest children and the first health partner to advocate for the Mozambique Ministry of Health to integrate ECD services into routine primary health care. By working to include nurturing care for ECD across all levels of the health system, PATH has worked with the Ministry of Health to include counseling messages on child development in antenatal care, maternity, postnatal care, well-baby clinics, HIV services, pediatric wards, sick child care, and home visits by community health workers. Our efforts to integrate monitoring for developmental delays in key child health consultations have resulted in over 1,600 public health facilities across the country now monitoring and recording child development status.

PATH supports the Ministry of Health in strengthening maternal, infant, and young child health and nutrition services. Through technical leadership, we’ve helped to identify and address key barriers to maternal nutrition, exclusive breastfeeding, and complementary feeding; developed local complementary feeding recipes, based on formative research with caregivers; and updated and implemented community-based management of acute malnutrition protocols, job aids, and monitoring and evaluation tools. As a result of this work, nearly 3 million children under 5 years of age have been reached with social and behavior change activities; screening, referrals, and treatment of acute malnutrition; and vitamin A supplementation and deworming interventions.

PATH supports the Ministry of Health in building capacity to expand access to malaria care and develop responsive systems able to provide real-time data of care across all levels of the health system. PATH lead pilot studies assessing the real-world effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of next-generation insecticide-treated nets as new tools are needed to maintain progress in the fight against malaria. We also assessed the potential use of pregnant women attending their first antenatal care (ANC) visit as a sentinel population to estimate malaria prevalence and intervention coverage, as well as to measure SARS-CoV-2 infection prevalence in the broader community by using seropositivity among pregnant women attending their first ANC visit as a proxy.

PATH’s solutions study and situate evidence-based approaches in the realities and challenges of Mozambique’s health system and its users. This involves using formative assessments and human-centered design methodologies and continuously iterating program features until we achieve a viable, acceptable, and sustainable solution. We are currently applying our human-centered design methodologies to optimize early childhood development, introduce a co-packaging solution for diabetes self-care, and address barriers to sustainably strengthen routine immunization programs.