On Sunday, March 24 Polly Dunford, USAID/ Mozambique Deputy Mission Director travelled to Nampula province to join Mozambican Government officials and health technicians on the official celebrations of World Tuberculosis Day.

Nampula citizens were happy and joyful, for in addition to hosting the official celebrations of TB day, they were also inaugurating the regional TB reference laboratory, an initiative which USAID has proudly supported. This laboratory is an important milestone in TB control in Mozambique, as this is the second such lab in the country. Establishing a regional reference laboratory in Nampula will drastically reduce the time required to verify TB diagnoses and confirm if it is drug resistant. The reference laboratory in Nampula will serve the northern and several of the central provinces. 

Polly Dunford walked with the Vice Minister of Health, Dra. Nazira Abdula, the Provincial Governor of  Nampula, Cidália Chaúque ,  the Permanent Secretary of Nampula Province, Dr. Manuel Guimarães, and a few hundred people,  in a march accompanied by the Military Band and various staff members of the Nampula Central Hospital. The event ended with a health fair at the commemoration site, where various tents provided information on different health areas, such as TB,family planning, malaria  and a pharmacy tent,  to interested visitors.

Visit our World TB Day photo gallery on Flickr, here.