Manhica (M 7)

Name: Manhica

The Manhiça DSA is in the district of Manhiça (Maputo Province) in southern Mozambique at latitude 25°24'S and longitude 32°48'E

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The Manhiça DSA is in the district of Manhiça (Maputo Province) in southern Mozambique at latitude 25°24'S and longitude 32°48'E (Figure 15.1). It lies at an average altitude of 50 m above sea level and covers an area of 100 km2. The district has two distinct zones: the fertile lowlands, which comprise the floodplains of the Incomati River, are sparsely inhabited, and are subject to intensive sugar cane and fruit farming; and an escarpment of moderate height, which gives rise to a flat plateau on which virtually the entire DSA is situated. The area has two distinct seasons. The warm season is between November and April, when most of the rains fall (annual rainfall during 1998 was 1100 mm); a cool, dry season lasts for the rest of the year.

Figure 15.1. Location of the Manhiça DSS site, Mozambique (monitored population, 36 000).



1 Manhiça Health Research Centre.

Population characteristics of the Manhiça DSA
The town of Manhiça and the surrounding villages have a population of about 36 600 inhabitants, with a density of 360 inhabitants/km2. The population is peri-urban and rural. People of the area are mainly Xironga and Xichangana, and their languages are often termed Ronga and Changana. The two dominant religions are Islam and Christianity. The people of the DSA are mostly subsistence farmers and workers in an agricultural cooperative that grows sugarcane, bananas, and rice. Workers also operate a large sugarcane-processing factory. An increasing number of small traders are establishing shops and businesses along the busy road that transects the district from north to south. There are 10 primary schools in the study area (6768 students and 85 teachers) and 1 secondary school (1492 students and 32 teachers). The rate of illiteracy is higher among females, at 47%, than among males, at 24%. Whereas 66% of men and 49% of women have primary education, only 9% of men and 4% of women have secondary education; and less than 1% of both men and women have gone beyond their secondary education.

Villages in this area typically comprise a loose conglomeration of compounds separated by garden plots and grazing land. Houses are simple, with walls typically made of cane, with thatched or corrugated roofs. In towns, houses are often grouped into family compounds and surrounded by grass fences. Towns grew substantially during the civil war in the 1980s as displaced people looked for refuge. After the end of the war, few inhabitants returned to their original homes, and displaced settlements have now been integrated into towns. Water comes mainly from community wells, although some households have their own wells. Some areas have community-run pumps. Both wells and pumps are supervised and chlorinated regularly by the District Water and Sanitation Department. The Maputo–Beira road and the Maputo–Xai railroad cross the area from north to south. With the exception of the (small) centre of the town of Manhiça, which has an erratic public-electricity service, the rest of the area relies on more traditional systems for lighting.

Centro de Investigação em Saúde de Manhiça (CISM, Manhiça health research centre) is in the centre of the study area. This 80-bed health facility includes a busy outpatient clinic, a maternity and child-care unit with an expanded immunization program and nutritional services, and a 24-hour emergency room. A smaller, 10-bed health centre is located 6 km south of the village of Manhiça. Malaria, acute respiratory infection, and malnutrition remain the most important causes of illness and death in children <5 years old.

http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-43017-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

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