Biography
Criménia Mbate-Mutemba, MD, MPH, is a Pediatrician at the Mozambique National TB Program. Her current roles include provision of technical leadership for the national and sub-national TB response while prioritizing all aspects of child and adolescent TB/HIV; the design and implementation of innovative approaches in the context of TB programming; and resource mobilization. She has additional experience in infectious diseases clinical care within resource limited settings, capacity building, design and implementation of public health interventions. Her career goal is to contribute to the national, regional, and global provision and scale-up of quality patient-centred care using an integrated and data-driven approach.
Key Impacts
Integrating paediatric drug-resistant TB into primary care: Mozambique’s decentralisation strategy and its impact on detection
Decentralising paediatric DR-TB services through health system integration, diagnostic expansion, and community-based approaches significantly improved case detection in Mozambique. This model offers a scalable framework for improving paediatric DR-TB outcomes and reducing inequities in similar high-burden settings.Table 1: Trends in Pediatric and Total MDR-TB case notification, Mozambique, 2017-2024.YearTotal MDR TB casesMDR TB cases 0-14 years% MDR TB in children among total cases2017953343.6%20281206605.0%20191388886.3%20201364957.0%20211366785.7%202214411006.9%202316851508.9%202415331228.0%
Source: Conference 2024
Paediatric drug-resistant TB prevention in resource-limited settings: Mozambique’s experience with levofloxacin prophylaxis
Mozambique’s levofloxacin-based TPT program achieved high screening coverage (96.4%) and met WHO completion targets (>75%), showing feasibility in routine care. However, a 65.4% initiation rate (vs. WHO ≥90%) reveals gaps. Strengthening digital reporting, decentralising TPT to community-based level, and addressing knowledge gaps can reduce loss to follow-up and improve initiation.
Source: Conference 2024