The Republic of Mozambique’s health infrastructure remains limited with more than half of the population residing over one hour walking distance from the nearest health facility. Further, health facilities in Mozambique face frequent shortage in medical supplies, electricity and running water. However, in 2004, the Government of Mozambique adopted a new constitution, which sets the legal framework for addressing these limitations by granting the right to health care to all citizens.
Article 89 of the 2004 Constitution of Mozambique states that “All citizens shall have the right to medical and health care, within the terms of the law, and shall have the duty to promote and protect public health”. Article 116 further stipulates “medical and health care for citizens shall be organized through a national health system, which shall benefit all Mozambican people … [and] the State shall promote the expansion of medical and health care and equal access of all citizens to the enjoyment of this right”. These constitutional provisions allowed for legislative milestones in 2007, through the Social Protection Law (4/2007), which establishes the foundations for the organisation of the social protection system through basic, obligatory and complementary social security. The National Strategy for Basic Social Security adopted in April 2010 aims to promote an integrated approach to social protection and makes specific provisions for health care as a core component of national social security.
The drafting of the current constitution began in 1998 and was marked by considerable participation through national seminars and public debates, before its final adoption in 2004 by a multi-party Parliament. Constitutional provisions, and resulting legal framework guaranteeing the right to health care and the subsequent establishment of a national universal health care system, illustrate strong political will for the social protection floor in Mozambique. Through this process the Government of Mozambique has acted boldly to uphold equality and ensure that constitutional and legal provisions for social security form strong legal foundations for the creation of a social protection floor.
Further Reading:
Miguel Mausse and Nuno Cunha (2011). ‘Mozambique Setting Up a Social Protection Floor’. In Sharing Innovative Experiences: Successful Social Protection Floor Experiences Vol. 18. United Nations Development Programme, New York. Accessed from http://academy.ssc.undp.org/GSSDAcademy/SIE/SIEV1CH14/SIEV1CH14P1.aspx on December 2016.