Air quality monitoring data in Mozambique has historically been scarce, fragmented, and largely restricted to project-specific campaigns that lack coordination and public access. The closure of the U.S. State Department clean air monitoring program in early 2025 further worsened data availability. Yet, even though that program made air quality measurement possible, it offered only a limited perspective across the capital city, Maputo. Located in a wealthy coastal neighbourhood, the monitor did not represent the environmental realities faced by the majority of Mozambique’s population. Beyond the capital city, routine local air quality data remain very limited. This broad lack of data has forced researchers to estimate air pollution’s health burden using satellite-derived estimates and global models that lacked local, real-time specificities. Without this evidence, it has been difficult to advocate for changes to the country’s Air Quality Standards Regulation, which dates back more than 20 years.
Over the last months, the gap in data accessibility and infrastructure has begun to close. Supported by the EPIC Air Quality Fund, the BLAZE Project (Fundação Manhiça) has established an air quality monitoring network that is making data increasingly available in both urban and rural settings–supporting health research and raising the awareness needed for change.
Rapid infrastructure growth to build the case
In less than a year, the BLAZE Project turned vision into reality, driving remarkable progress in expanding Mozambique’s monitoring footprint. The initiative successfully completed the installation of nine low-cost sensors across Maputo City, Matola (the capital’s largest suburb), and Boane (a city in southern Mozambique). These low-cost sensors are hosted by selected health facilities in areas chosen for their public-health relevance, including high traffic, industrial activity and population density. The network also includes two reference-grade monitors: a BAM 1022 operating at CISM in Manhiça and a TEOM 1400a hosted at Eduardo Mondlane University, where the data can be analyzed to find local correlations between air pollution levels and health challenges.
Parallel to the installation, the project is modernizing how regional air quality data is managed and shared. The team has successfully made historical hourly and daily fine particulate pollution data from as far back as November 2023 fully open to the public through the OpenAQ platform, and is working to streamline continuous publication. Data from the BAM 1022 and several low-cost sensors are now being shared through AirQo and OpenAQ, while TEOM data are currently retrieved manually and remain a priority for automation.
“With BLAZE, we now have unprecedented access to real-time local data on the air we breathe,” says Hermínio Cossa, Project Lead at the Centro de Investigação em Saúde de Manhiça (CISM). “By monitoring air quality locally, we no longer depend only on general estimates; we can generate concrete evidence on exposure to dust, smoke and fumes in our district, allowing us to correlate pollution levels with respiratory diseases and support more informed public health decisions.”
Moving forward through partnerships
Beyond the technical work of procuring materials, installing monitors, and making air quality data public, a key pillar of BLAZE’s strategy is laying the foundations for targeted coalitions around open data, public health and policy action. To build widespread awareness, the team has conducted–and will continue to conduct–in-person, remote, and hybrid workshops, training sessions and demonstrations of the monitors. The project has also actively engaged district government representatives, health professionals, community leaders, and students. Because open data remains a sensitive governance issue, coalition-building is being approached in stages, with careful attention to data ownership, attribution, sustainability and public trust.
From the beginning, the BLAZE Project developed a close operational partnership with the Ministry of Health (MoH), which has been central to transforming air quality monitoring from a research activity into a health-sector initiative. The MoH endorsed the placement of low-cost sensors in selected health facilities and supported coordination across central, provincial, district and facility levels. This collaboration enabled the network to be anchored in trusted public institutions located in urban, peri-urban and high-exposure settings. Beyond hosting the sensors, the MoH has played an active role in building local ownership of the network. Through the first health-sector training workshop, environmental health focal points were introduced to sensor security, basic maintenance, data access and use, and the interpretation of air quality information through AirQo and OpenAQ. This has helped position health facilities not only as monitoring sites, but also as future users of the data for environmental health surveillance, health, education, community engagement and routine reporting. This partnership also provides a pathway for translating PM2.5 data into public health policy. The MoH has emphasised the need for local evidence on the links between air pollution and health outcomes, and has shown interest in using BLAZE data to inform regular reports from facility to district, provincial and national levels. In the longer term, this evidence could contribute not only to the revision of national air quality standards, but also to the strengthening of environmental health guidance within Mozambique’s National Health Policy.
At the same time, the partnership with Eduardo Mondlane University goes far beyond operating the reference-grade monitor equipment. It includes joint research, capacity building, and fundraising. Through this initiative, a PhD student is currently using particulate pollution data to characterize air quality-related exposure in the country’s capital. A Mozambican Master’s student based in India is also using BLAZE data to develop a dissertation on air pollution exposure related to biomass burning in open dumps in Maputo City.
Another success followed the presentation of the BLAZE Project progress report at Mozambique’s National Institute of Meteorology (INAM). INAM and Fundação Manhiça are now developing a formal collaboration so that INAM can actively access BLAZE data, assist with instrument calibration, and analyze filter samples to identify specific pollutants. This collaboration arrives at a key policy juncture, positioning BLAZE data to play a crucial role in the revision of the Air Quality Standards.
“Our team has also been invited to provide technical inputs,” says Cossa. “There is an urgent need for having evidence on the impact of air pollution on specific health outcomes to inform policy and action. There is also an understanding that having PM2.5 data is just a starting point and the knowledge about specific pollutants is crucial for action.”
A significant milestone in this emerging partnership is INAM’s expected public commitment to working toward cleaner air, which will be celebrated at the Clean Air Pledge session on September 8, 2026, convened by the EPIC Air Quality Fund in honour of the United Nations International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies.
Generating momentum through education
BLAZE has also worked to engage communities and educate them about the health risks of air pollution. As part of the celebrations for World Science Day for Peace and Development, Cossa’s organization CISM, in cooperation with Manhiça’s district government, organized an exhibition dedicated to air quality monitoring technologies in Mozambique.
Designed to showcase the potential public health technology and to empower local communities, the event drew government representatives, health care professionals, community leaders and students from local schools. A dynamic visual interface allowed the team to help participants understand how “air quality changes immediately in the presence of smoke or other sources of pollution, making the invisible visible”. “The enthusiasm confirms that science, when it becomes tangible, transforms into a powerful tool for awareness and education,” says Cossa.
At the same time, BLAZE has learned that public communication must be carefully tailored. In discussions with MoH and facility focal points, participants recommended using data first to inform regular reports, research and policy, and then translating findings into clear, context-appropriate public messages to avoid misinterpretation and unintended social tensions.
To sustain this educational momentum, future activities include a joint meeting with Stark Green Generation, an association that works on topics around climate change and air pollution in Mozambique. The plan is to discuss potential synergies, leveraging the association’s expertise in conducting interactive educational talks in schools and with the public to inspire community-driven steps towards cleaner air.
What’s ahead
To build on these early successes and translate them into long-term policy impact, the BLAZE Project has outlined several key upcoming priorities:
- Expanding the dialogue: A second multi-stakeholder workshop is planned with the aim to explore data governance and explore collaborative opportunities for building a data-sharing coalition.
- Community engagement: The BLAZE Project aims to conduct site visits to explore local solutions for data use, such as public talks at health and education facilities.
- Deepening the INAM partnership: Finalising the collaboration with INAM is expected to support joint technical actions, including instrument calibration, collaborative air quality monitoring, filter sample analysis and data use.
- Driving policy action forward: The BLAZE Project is committed to moving from theory to action and contributing to the revision process of the National Air Quality Standards Regulation on the basis of existing literature and available data.
“The EPIC Air Quality Fund has been fundamental to our work towards cleaner air in Mozambique,” says Cossa. “We are now collecting PM2.5 data through 11 active stations, and our next steps are to network more with other awardees and institutions working on air quality, learn from their experience, and bring the project forward. The target is to develop an air quality risk map for Mozambique, while simultaneously building high-level technical and scientific capacity needed to sustain this work locally to ensure the growth of a sustainable initiative.”
This story is the fourth in the EPIC Air Quality Fund Impact series that aims to showcase how the fund supports local governments and organizations in installing air quality monitors, providing open data to communities, and driving national-level impact in countries that could benefit the most.