Mozambique recorded 18 new measles cases in early March, raising the total to 697 patients — plus one death — in the current outbreak spanning approximately seven months, according to official data consulted by Lusa.
According to the Measles Epidemiological Summary, compiled by the National Directorate of Public Health (DNSP) and covering data from July 29, 2025 — the start of the current outbreak — through March 8, cases are concentrated in the centre and north of the country, with one death recorded in Nampula. The previous DNSP report, covering data up to February 25, had recorded a total of 679 patients.
The most affected provinces are Sofala, in the centre of the country, with a cumulative total of 238 cases, followed by Nampula (195), Niassa (115) and Zambézia (102), all of which continue to record new patients every week.
“Measles is an acute viral infectious disease, generally severe in children under five,” the National Directorate of Public Health warns, urging all patients with symptoms to go to health units.
The outbreak began two years after a vaccination campaign that, in August 2023, reached five million children up to four years and nine months of age in under a week — above the initially estimated target — to prevent an outbreak in five provinces. The campaign ran from July 31 to August 4, 2023, across all districts of Manica, Sofala, Tete and Zambézia provinces, as well as nine districts in Niassa province.
At a press conference in Maputo in August 2023, national public health director Quinhas Fernandes noted that the operation — which cost $5 million (€4.5 million) and mobilised 38,000 workers including vaccinators, registrars and mobilisers — had initially aimed to vaccinate 4.8 million children. “We managed to reach and exceed those numbers, vaccinating around five million children,” he said.
Read more: Floods: Mozambique extends heavy rain warning from the south to the center of the country
The Mozambican government had previously acknowledged that disruptions caused by the combined effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and other public health emergencies put pressure on vaccination services and the delivery of other prevention packages, increasing the risk of large measles outbreaks. From January 2020 to June 2023, Mozambique recorded 2,565 measles cases, 80% of which were reported in Niassa in the north and Zambézia, Tete, Manica and Sofala in the centre, affecting mainly children under five.
