Namati is thrilled to share that Namati Moçambique is now Matimba, a fully independent organization dedicated to ensuring quality, dignified healthcare for every Mozambican.
For more than 13 years, Namati’s health justice program in Mozambique built a movement of grassroots health advocates who work alongside communities and health workers to help patients claim their rights, demand better care, and reshape health systems. Namati Moçambique, registered as a national organization, carried out this work with considerable autonomy, including its own leadership, funders, and partners. Now, Matimba will lead every aspect of its work as an independent organization.
“The work we’ve been doing in Mozambique is about the dignity of every human being. Everyone deserves a health clinic with running water and a working bathroom. Everyone deserves to receive a diagnosis in private,” said Vivek Maru, Founder and CEO at Namati. “Communities in Mozambique have shown how it’s possible to bring that fundamental principle of dignity to life, facility by facility, patient by patient, and ultimately through systemic changes that have improved healthcare nationwide. I am thrilled this work will continue as Matimba.”
Matimba comes from Changana, a language spoken in southern Mozambique. “Matimba means strength, and that’s what we see every day in the communities and health workers with whom we work: a mother who speaks up about how she was treated in labor, a health committee that advocates for access to essential medicines and running water for a rural clinic, a nurse who wants to give better care. Our name now comes from the communities we serve. Our commitment to stand with them hasn’t changed,” explained Nadja Gomes, Co-Founder and Co-Director at Matimba.
As Namati Moçambique, Matimba’s health advocates helped resolve more than 80,000 barriers to care, supported more than 80 community-based organizations, trained more than 20,000 health workers, and helped establish humanized childbirth standards protecting women in 492 health facilities.
“Hundreds of millions of dollars go into health systems like Mozambique’s. But the impact of those efforts is undermined if mothers are afraid to give birth at their local clinic, or if patients don’t feel safe enough to stay in care,” added Ellie Feinglass, Co-Founder and Co-Director at Matimba. “For a fraction of the cost, we work alongside communities, health workers, and government to strengthen the trust and accountability that help those investments deliver quality, dignified care. The barriers patients face are not unique to Mozambique. What we’ve achieved together here offers a model for other countries facing similar challenges.”
Matimba will continue to help communities know, use, and shape the law, partnering with Namati as opportunities arise.
For more information, visit Matimba’s website: https://matimbahealth.org/.