Mozambique plans to train more than 14,000 health workers by 2030, the health minister announced yesterday, identifying improvements in the quality of education, the digitalisation of training and the fight against harassment in academic institutions as priorities.
“To meet these needs and ensure the availability of competent, motivated human resources who are appropriately distributed throughout the country, the Ministry of Health plans to train a total of 14,000 health professionals by 2030,” Ussene Isse said in Maputo at the opening of the 5th National Meeting on the Training of Health Professionals.
Isse acknowledged that the system faces pressures associated with demographic transition, climate change, public health emergencies and funding difficulties, as well as demands from sector professionals for better working conditions and salary adjustments.
According to the minister, the target includes training 265 specialist doctors, 255 subspecialists in priority areas, 270 professionals in postgraduate and nursing specialisation programmes, 160 master’s and doctoral graduates, 300 bachelor’s degree graduates and around 11,000 mid-level health technicians.
Ussene Isse said these professionals would be essential to sustaining the expansion and quality of services provided by the National Health System.
“The challenge is not just to train more professionals, but above all to ensure that every graduate possesses the skills, technical competencies, ethical values and human skills necessary to practise their profession with quality and safety,” he added.
The minister also highlighted progress made in recent years, citing the training of around 19,500 health technicians, 600 specialist doctors and 3,000 basic multipurpose health workers, figures he said demonstrated the government’s commitment to strengthening the sector’s response capacity.
One of the main concerns raised by the minister during his speech was the increase in cases of harassment in academic and clinical practice settings, for which he advocated an institutional position of “zero tolerance”.
“We must combat harassment in all its forms and strengthen these efforts further. This is an emerging challenge that we have been witnessing in our training schools,” he said.
According to the minister, no trainee, teacher or professional should be subjected to practices that undermine their dignity or physical and psychological integrity. He called for stronger mechanisms for reporting incidents, protecting victims and holding offenders accountable.
Ussene Isse also identified mental health as a growing concern for the health sector, describing it as “a new emerging epidemic in the National Health System”.
In this regard, he advocated the creation of spaces for listening and psychosocial support for students and trainees, arguing that the high academic and emotional demands associated with health education can increase the risk of exhaustion, dropping out of courses and other psychological problems.
The minister also called for stronger coordination between training schools and teaching hospitals, the consolidation of competency-based learning models, and the expansion of training focused on primary healthcare and community-based intervention.
In July, Mozambican health professionals, who had been on strike since January, announced that they would continue the stoppage for a further 30 days, demanding an emergency plan for the sector and threatening to stage a nationwide demonstration at the end of that period.
Source: Lusa