Africa-Press – Mozambique. The U.S. government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), launched a new four-year program to support market-based approaches to improve access to sanitation, as well as encourage improved hygiene practices in selected small towns in northern Mozambique. Known as Small Towns Sanitation (STS), this project will be implemented in partnership with the Government of Mozambique WASH entities: the National Directorate of Water and Sanitation (DNAAS), the Agency for Water and Sanitation Infrastructure (AIAS), and the Water Regulator Authority (AURA). STS will also promote women’s leadership roles and business development in the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) sector.
In Mozambique, water and sanitation related diseases contribute to high levels of child stunting (43%), cholera epidemics and chronic diarrhea outbreaks. They also contribute to the high child mortality rate in Mozambique, where more than 46 newborns out of every 1,000 do not survive. In small towns, especially in Nampula and Zambezia provinces, only about 20 percent of residents have access to water infrastructure, mostly hand pumps, and most residents do not have access to plumbing nor access to information on healthy hygiene behaviors. The STS project will support activities totalling $14.4 million and will be implemented by the global health organization Population Services International (PSI), in coordination with other USAID WASH programs.
This project is part of USAID’s plan to improve Mozambicans’ access to WASH services, laid out in the 2020 Water for the World Priority Initiative. STS will help increase availability of WASH infrastructure, national and local actors’ technical capacity to ensure sustainable services and cost recovery, as well as financing mechanisms that encourage local entrepreneurs in this sector.
Support for improved water, sanitation and hygiene services is a critical component of U.S. Government assistance to Mozambique. Improvements in this sector contribute to better health and create an environment for diverse economic growth to benefit all citizens. In close collaboration with the Government of the Republic of Mozambique, the U.S. Government provides more than $500 million in annual assistance to help Mozambicans build a healthier, more democratic, more secure, more prosperous county for all.
About USAID
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) leads the U.S. Government’s international development and disaster assistance through partnerships and investments that save lives, reduce poverty, strengthen democratic governance, and help people emerge from humanitarian crises. For more information about USAIDs work, visit www.usaid.gov.
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