Expanding Rural Public Health Programming

This partnership enhanced health education and health care at the Universidade Católica de Moçambique (UCM) to benefit the rural populations of central Mozambique.

Partners developed a month-long rural public health course for 146 first-year UCM medical students. After completing the course, the students visited families in nearby communities as part of their service to public health. In collaboration with the Sofala Province Health Directorate, the partnership co-sponsored a community health project focusing on maternal and child health, nutrition, and HIV/AIDS education and prevention.

Partners also conducted workshops on computer networking and web design and maintenance at UCM, and selected 16 rural health clinics to host computer labs with Internet capability for communication with the UCM Medical School and for distance education. UCM faculty visited West Virginia University and learned about the West Virginia Rural Health System (WVRHS).

As a result of the partnership, U.S. Pharmacopeia established a regional library for drug information at the UCM School of Medicine’s library and Hewlett Packard donated 15 new computers to the UCM Medical School.