The African Development Bank Group approved a $1 million emergency relief grant to support Mozambique’s response to the devastating floods that struck the country’s central and southern regions, including Maputo and Gaza provinces, in January 2026.
The grant, financed through the Bank’s Special Relief Fund (SRF), aims to assist communities affected by the disaster.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) will implement the relief project, drawing on its expertise in managing displacement and humanitarian aid.
Carla do Rosário Fernandes Loveira, Mozambique’s Minister of Finance, said “we are deeply grateful for the African Development Bank’s swift and positive response to our appeal. This emergency grant will allow us to restore safety and dignity for thousands of affected households through the rapid provision of temporary shelters and essential household items.”
The floods in Mozambique killed over 103 people by mid-January and hundreds of thousands displaced, across the southern and central provinces.
West African Health
The Board of Directors of the African Development Fund also approved a $14.26 million donation to the West African Health Organization (OAOS) over the weekend.
The amount is to strengthen health systems and medical regulation in seven West African countries, including Benin, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Togo.
Lamin Barrow, the Bank Group’s Director General for West Africa, said the initiative is expected to improve quality healthcare delivery, strengthen laboratory capacities, pharmaceutical regulation, and help countries better respond to public health and nutrition emergencies.
“The Bank Group’s support is justified by the cross-border nature of health security risks in ECOWAS, which require coordinated regional solutions with collective positive effects extending beyond national borders.”
Picture: Supplied