Read the Portuguese version here.
VillageReach’s journey in Mozambique is a story of what becomes possible when health care reaches the people who need it most. It is an illustration of caregivers who can rely on health services being available, of health workers empowered to do their jobs and of communities where care is becoming more consistent, responsive and equitable.
Over the past 25 years, this work has reached more than 155 million people worldwide, including more than 30 million in Mozambique. But Mozambique is more than a place we work — it is where VillageReach was born and where our approach to strengthening health systems first took shape.
Thinking Big from the Beginning
Our journey in Mozambique began when Nelson Mandela and Graça Machel boarded a plane to Seattle in 1999 for what they and their hosts called the Building Bridges tour. The tour was intended to raise awareness and funding for the Nelson Mandela Foundation and for Mama Graça’s Foundation for Community Development (FDC). But what began as one tour ultimately catalyzed the birth of VillageReach and lasting partnerships that have become the lifeblood of our organizational impact.
Our founder, Blaise Judja-Sato, chatted with Mama Graça on board that plane to Seattle, and they established a rapport. When Mama Graça later reached out to telecommunications executives Blaise Judja-Sato and Craig McCaw to help with the humanitarian response to Cyclone Eline in 2000, the pair recognized that Mozambique needed more than short-term emergency support and soon founded VillageReach. They saw that health products and services were not reaching the people who needed them most and understood that lasting progress would require systems change and strong local partnerships. Once VillageReach was established, Mandela and Mama Graça readily accepted roles as honorary board chairs, and the founders began working closely with FDC and Mozambique’s Ministry of Health (MoH) right away.
Over time, Mozambique became the proving ground for VillageReach’s approach. As our work expanded from a small number of health facilities to entire provinces, we used partnership and innovation to improve vaccine access and health service delivery. The lessons learned from our work in Mozambique have shaped and expanded our work across Africa and beyond, with a focus on access to health products, health information systems, health service delivery, workforce development and emergency response. Through more than 25 years of learning, we have built deep expertise in co-developing solutions to strengthen health systems that meet government health priorities and address the needs of under-reached communities — and it all began in Mozambique.
Building Bridges to Quality Care
Little Maria Luis with mother Matilde Luis at Health Center of Namarroi Mozambique. Photo Credit: Januario Bila.
Over the years, VillageReach has deepened its role as a trusted partner to the government in Mozambique. Today, VillageReach stands side by side with the MoH — across the country and at international health events — sharing successful models, perspectives and lessons on overcoming barriers. This partnership is reflected in our early initiatives, such as VidaGas, created in 2002 to address fuel needs for cold chain systems, and vrMIS, launched in 2004 as the first logistics management information system. It is also reflected in our work today with telehealth innovations through AlôVida, including a recent collaboration with Qure.ai and the MoH that integrates AI-powered tools into the AlôVida platform.
“VillageReach has become a trusted adviser to the Ministry of Health, which is why we are confident that, together, we will continue implementing solutions that the Mozambican health sector needs, with the assurance that they will be sustainable in Mozambique as well as replicable in other countries,” said Ussene Isse, Mozambique’s Minister of Health.
Together with government and partners, we are strengthening service delivery and supporting better decision-making across the health system. This includes caregiver-centered research and co-designed approaches like Bate Papo, which engages communities to build trust and increase vaccine uptake. We are improving access through stronger public-private transport logistics that ensure health products reach even the most remote areas. We are also advancing data use through systems like electronic logistics management and the Electronic Child Registry, which help health workers track services and make data-informed decisions. In addition, we are expanding protection against cervical cancer through human papillomavirus vaccination efforts and ensuring consistent access to family planning products.
What began with a challenge in Mozambique did not stay in Mozambique. We built a virtuous cycle of global learning because solutions that work can be adapted, implemented and scaled across the globe1, including in the U.S. VillageReach first brought its global expertise to the U.S. in 2020, supporting public health responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing on decades of experience in low-resource settings, the organization worked with Washington state and county partners to strengthen vaccine delivery, generate demand and build digital tools and data platforms that could improve equitable access across rural and urban communities. In this way, the story comes full circle: insights first forged in Mozambique, in the global South, helped shape public health solutions in in the global North.
The Journey Continues
Niassa, Mozambique. Photo Credit: Denis Onyodi.
After 25 years, Mozambique remains central to VillageReach’s story — not only as our origin but as a place where we continue to learn, adapt and grow. Our focus is the same: identifying the barriers that keep health care out of reach and working with partners to remove them. As our work has evolved from vaccine delivery to strengthening broader, responsive primary health care systems, Mozambique has continued to shape how we think, innovate and act.
“FDC and VillageReach affirm that access to health is a fundamental right and an essential condition for social justice,” said Mama Graça Machel. “It is within this convergence of ideals, values and commitments that we recently signed a memorandum of understanding to work together on the prevention of and response to public health emergencies, ensuring the well-being of Mozambican communities.”
The partnerships we have built in Mozambique, including with government and longstanding partners like FDC, and the lessons still emerging, continue to guide our work around the world. We started with big ideas in Mozambique, and what began there in 2000 has cascaded into an approach used in more than 25 countries ensuring that everyone, everywhere, can access the health care they need to thrive.