The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday that health assistance was urgently needed in the Cabo Delgado province in northern Mozambique and called for donor support and relief supplies.

The region was recently hit by armed attacks, resulting in the damage or closure of a third of the province’s 132 health facilities and leaving 1.2-million people without health care.

Services and treatment for HIV, malaria, tuberculosis, cholera and Covid-19 are critically needed.

The WHO’s Dr Joaquim Saweka said there is an urgent need to ensure full access to essential health services in all accessible districts and to establish mechanisms to improve health access to vulnerable people in hard-to-reach districts.

WHO regional director for Africa Dr Matshidiso Moeti said many of the people affected by violence depend on humanitarian aid for survival.

Needed is $3.5-million to provide health assistance, with the WHO having mobilised $1.77-million to support government and partner organisations in the emergency response.

The organisation has set up three cholera treatment centres and built a provisional health centre to cater for internally displaced persons and the host community in the Chiuri district in Cabo Delgado.

The WHO has also deployed 17 staff to the Pemba district.

It is revising its response plan and will deploy additional human and material resources to Cabo Delgado and other health emergency hotspots in the country as soon as additional resources are mobilised.