Today in Maputo, the government warned of constraints in health services and programs whose implementation depended to a large extent on financial support from the United States of America. Shortages of medicines and human resources may be the biggest impacts.

In Mozambique, the US has supported strategic and priority programs, such as the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, tuberculosis, family planning, strengthening the drug supply chain, among others.

"The sudden withdrawal of this support compromises the efficiency of the implementation of these programs. The impact will also be reflected in the availability of human resources in the sector, because part of the resources were also used to ensure some quality internally," said the spokesman for the Executive and Minister of State Administration and Civil Service.

The Mozambican government was thus reacting to the suspension of various programs around the world, particularly on the African continent and in Mozambique, by the US administration.

Mozambique has a ratio of 18.5 health professionals for every 10,000 inhabitants, far short of the target of 45 health professionals for every 10,000 inhabitants, according to the source.

"We're a long way off," he acknowledged. "And with this suspension of support, of course, it's a huge challenge for us to achieve this goal."

He said that for the current fiscal year, a budget of 2.2 million US dollars has been approved to provide essential professionals in programs to assist HIV/AIDS patients. However, according to Impissa, funding for this amount is conditional.

"Regarding assistance to the supply of medicines, this suspension has implications for the provision of essential medicines, especially for the treatment of HIV/AIDS and family planning, but also impacts on the process of distributing medicines and other health products, contributing to the reduction in the availability of medicines in health facilities."

Despite this scenario, "the government reaffirms its commitment to guaranteeing the continuity of essential health services to the population".

Inocêncio Impissa said actions were underway to deal with the situation, and appealed to the population "not to panic".