Hospital of Hope by Ezio Gianni Murzi: Fighting HIV/AIDS in Mozambique : Shared by Doreen Lobo

Congratulations to Gianni Murzi whose article Hospital of Hope was recently publishedd by Dodho Magazine.  The article builds on a narrative and stunning photos of the hospital at Chokwe Mozambique during a time crisis in TB and HIV when Gianni was serving as a young doctor responsible for the hospital and the surrounding region. 

 
Hospital of Hope by Ezio Gianni Murzi: Fighting HIV/AIDS in Mozambique

Ezio Gianni Murzi

Dodho Magazine

January 28, 2026

Click here for the article

Summary

Dr. Ezio Gianni Murzi, a former UNICEF Regional Director who began his career as a physician in rural Mozambique in the late 1970s, returned to Chókwè in 2019 and 2023 with a camera to document the current HIV/AIDS crisis through photography. 

As a 33-year-old doctor in the late 1970s, Murzi directed a 120-bed hospital serving 300,000 people in Chókwè, Mozambique. His photo story traces the development of Carmelo Hospital, which evolved from earlier health efforts led by Sister Maddalena Serra, who moved from Chókwè to establish the remote Chalacuane Health Centre and maternity ward. 

When tuberculosis patients began dying despite proper treatment, the sisters identified the growing HIV epidemic and converted an abandoned convent into Carmelo Hospital, dedicated to HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis care, counseling, and support. 

The hospital currently treats long queues of patients, many young and on antiretroviral therapy, with some improving while others face nearly untreatable disease. Beyond medical treatment, the sisters expanded their work into villages, supporting families with housing repairs, food, cash transfers, and a Distance Adoption Programme linking orphaned children with international donors. 

While effective HIV treatments now offer many patients the chance of a normal life, the photo story concludes with concerns about whether international funding will be sustained in an era of shrinking aid. Murzi graduated in medicine in 1970, worked in Rome hospitals, became a family physician in Italy, then served in Mozambique and Tanzania before joining UNICEF in 1988, eventually serving as Regional Director for Central and West Africa and temporarily leading offices in New Delhi, Harare, Tehran, and Tirana before retirement.

Quotes

"In the late 1970s, as a 33-year-old doctor directing a rural 120-bed hospital in Chókwè, Mozambique, I was responsible for the health of some 300,000 people. The intensity and isolation of that work left lasting memories that followed me throughout my life."

"Amid this hardship, the human warmth between staff and patients was striking."

"Yet the photo story ends with an open question: in an era of shrinking international aid, will funding be sustained so that HIV treatment and support remain available to all who need them? The medical solutions exist; their future depends on continued solidarity."