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Southern Provinces in Mozambique -- HIV/AIDS Hotbed

Maputo Province, Maputo City, Inhambane and Gaza

In Southern Mozambique, the main development challenge is the rapid spread of HIV among vulnerable populations. The prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the south (21 percent in 2007) is substantially higher than the national average (16 percent in 2007).

Research presented by the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF)  suggests that the hyperepidemic in the south could potentially be a result of high levels of economic movement and accompanying sexual risk, especially multiple concurrent partnerships.  In fact, even though the national HIV-prevalence rate has remained stable between 2004 and 2007, the UCSF research suggests that this masks varying regional trends, such as the increase of prevalence in the south and decrease in the north.   

The capital of Mozambique, Maputo City, is also perhaps most at risk for rapid spread of diseases. The smallest province in size, it presents the highest population density in the country and, consequently, greater levels of sexual risk associated with economic movement.




The economy of Maputo City, a port on the Indian Ocean, revolves around the harbor. Coal, cotton, sugar, chromite, sisal, copra, and hardwood are the chief exports. The city is surrounded by Maputo Province, but is administered as its own province. Maputo is a melting pot of several cultures, with a strong South African influence. The Bantu and Portuguese cultures dominate, but the influence of Arab, Indian, and Chinese cultures is also present.  Interestingly, in Mozambique very few people speak the official language, Portuguese, due to lack of education. Different indigenous languages are dominant in each of the 10 provinces. But in Maputo City, as a result of higher literacy rates, Portuguese has become dominant, and surpassed other indigenous Mozambican languages in usage.

As the most developed province, Maputo City’s radio market is buzzing. It has a plethora of radio stations -- mostly private, commercial and entertainment oriented, yet not as many nonprofit radio stations. Radio stations such as Top FM, 99 FM, S FM, etc., focus extensively on entertainment and music-related content. In this scenario, the most trustworthy source of information -- both local and otherwise -- remains Radio Mozambique and Radio Cidade.




Maputo Province surrounds Maputo City. Recent reports  indicate that the population of this province has increased 50 percent between 1997 and 2007. The rise is explained by the migration of people from Maputo City into Maputo Province. The Maputo City census results, on the other hand, show a growth rate of only 1.2 per cent a year. People have been moving out of the city, notably into Matola in Maputo Province.

The census has some troubling information as well: 39 percent of deaths in Maputo were AIDS-related, while 11 percent were caused by malaria. Illiteracy has fallen in this province as a result of economic development: from 34 percent in 1997 to 22 percent in 2007. But illiteracy is dramatically linked to gender; with women’s illiteracy rates being more than double that of men.  

In Maputo province, similar to the capital city, Radio Mozambique is a popular source of news, information and local programming. But some respondents (20 percent) also said that they look to Radio Communitaria in Moamba for local programming.


 

In Maputo province and Maputo City -- due to higher literacy and greater prosperity -- respondents also have higher access to television sets and newspapers than other provinces. Read here how you might use television and newspapers to target respondents in Maputo Province and Maputo City (Coming Soon).

Gaza is often referred to as the "granary" of Mozambique because of the fertility of the Limpopo valley where there is extensive cereal and rice cultivation.  But climate change, characterized by consecutive droughts and floods, has   affected yield and economic progress here.

Radio Maria -- operated by the diocese of the neighboring province, Inhumbane -- is the most listened to radio station in Gaza and 26 percent of the respondents in Gaza rely on it for local programming. Radio Wembe, a private station, is also a source of local programming for 21 percent of respondents.
 


















Respondents in Inhumbane relied on R. Communitaria (36 percent) and sports channel Radio Desperto Inerprovincial Inhumbane (31 percent) for information and local programming. This is perhaps the only province where Radio Mozambique is not quite listened to or relevant to listeners for its news or local programming: Only 13 percent said they relied on Radio Mozambique for local programming.

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A Note about Methodology: In order to collect weekly listenership data for the radio channels that were being listened to across the 11 provinces, this report used the following methodology: Respondents in the Synovate/Steadman Media Diary Survey 2009 were asked to name (first spontaneous and then prompted) radio stations they had heard of or listened to. Once this list was ascertained, the respondent was then asked when they had listened to these radio stations last (yesterday, last week, last 4 weeks, and longer than that/never). From this we tabulated weekly radio listenership for all possible radio stations and then cross-tabbed this with a variable listing the province from which the respondent belonged. Radio stations that registered higher than 15 percent listenership in any province are featured in this report.

Information and Some Key Data for this report was sourced from

INE, 2006 (Mozambique National Statistics)

Mozambique: Drought and floods bring food shortages IRIN News

Mozambique: After the Floods. IRIN News

Mozambique: Floods could aggravate seasonal cholera IRIN News

Mozambique: Cholera Situation "Stationary" All Africa.com

Mozambique: Cholera Outbreaks in Five Provinces All Africa.com

Millenium Challenge Corporation Mozambique Fact Sheet

Mozambique Aids Profile/Summary from University of California, San Francisco

United Nations High Commission on Refugees- Mozambique Profile

Mozambique: Sharp Population Growth in Maputo Province All Africa.com

Mozambique-New African Frontiers