When we talk about improving the quality of healthcare services in a specific country, either in the so-called “developed” or “developing” countries, the first thing that comes to our minds is large-scale works/buildings and infrastructures, buying expensive equipments, professional training… All of this may become necessary, but, what about quality and warmth regarding patient’s care? After all, we are talking about human healhcare provided by people, therefore the professionality, respect and humanity involved constitute fundamental aspects to the quality of the healthcare services provided and its social acceptability. This lattest aspect is particularly important in countries where an increased use of healthcare services would in itself result in major improvements in the indicators.

Thus medicusmundi collaborates with the Health Ministry of Moçambique in its initiatives aiming at the improvement of Quality and Humanisation by conducting a study, which will extend well into 2015, in order to analise the quality of the services provided by the healthcare professionals as well as the users’s satisfaction in the Montepuez, Balama and Namuno districts.

Within the framework of this collaboration, on September 26th-28th, medicusmundi participated in the 4th Regional Meeting on Quality and Humanisation that was held in Lichinga, in the Niassa province.

During those days the progresses made in the country’s three northern provinces (Cabo Delgado, Niassa and Nampula were analized. The main strategies oriented to improving the quality of the services provided by the region’s healthcare network personnel were debated. The meeting included for the first time the issue of the improvement of healthcare competencies as well as prizes for the initiatives presented. We hope that the results of our study contributes to the improvement of such crucial aspects regarding quality in the primary healthcare.

Translated from Spanish by Sílvia Aymerich