Recently, the Mozambican health sector has been struggling with some of the most problematic yet common questions related to the financial sustainability of its public health service. In common with other resource-constrained countries in the region, Mozambique has developed targets for poverty reduction by, inter alia, realizing improvements in equitable access to key resources. The challenges are enormous and in every major sub-sector there are serious obstacles to improving the acquisition and use of resources for the provision of quality health services. The Ministry of Health (MOH) has developed a multi-pronged approach to addressing these problems in an effort to build consensus for a common strategic plan as a framework for introducing a sector wide approach to programming (SWAP). The financing of health services has become a central area of discussion in recent years as new tools are introduced into the sector making it possible to hold broad discussions on the issues related to resource acquisition and use. Much of the knowledge growth in this area has occurred through the development of a long-term Health Financing Strategy initiated in early 1998 and which ts expected to conclude (in terms of strategy formulation) in July 1999. To support this process and to provide vital information on the patterns of resource consumption and distribution in the sector, the MOH also commissioned a Health Expenditure Review (HER) and related studies. These included a description of the public and private health sectors, an analysis of the legislative and regulatory framework of the health sector, an analysis of a recent Living Standards Measurement Survey (LSMS) in order to study health expenditures at the household level, and a social review that aimed to collect what we know about the determinants of health service utilization. These studies, collectively known as the HER, have provided valuable insight into existing health sector financing in Mozambique and will make an important contribution to the process of developing sound financial and other policies. In and of itself the HER does not develop policy scenarios. Furthermore, there 1s a wide range of other documentation, knowledge, and thinking that complements the HER and is important to the strategic planning process.