In every country around the world, healthcare workers can play a crucial role in the wellbeing of children and their families throughout their local communities. In Timor-Leste, where healthcare access remains a challenge for many, Community Health Workers can sometimes be the only healthcare provider young children have access to.
For these communities, the role of these Community Health Workers is critical, not only helping to safeguard the health and development of their young ones, but paving the way towards a healthier future for the entire community. Here’s why Community Health Workers provide such a crucial link when it comes to child wellbeing throughout Timor-Leste.
Trusted, reliable advocates within Timorese communities
When it comes to the health and wellbeing of our children, trust is such a crucial ingredient to receiving critical care. That’s why it makes such a difference that Community Health Workers throughout Timor-Leste aren’t outsiders. As locals themselves, with many often born and raised in the regions they grow up to support, deep-rooted trust becomes a fundamental ingredient in the success of this community-oriented work.
Community Health Workers are often the first (and sometimes the only) port of call for families when children are in need of healthcare. As well as providing direct healthcare services, they’re also a crucial source of education and awareness for rural communities. They address preventable causes of disease through this education, as well as referring sick community members to more robust healthcare facilities and supporting the implementation of national health programs.
At Maluk Timor, our work in the development of Community Health Workers is fundamental to the ongoing network of healthcare. We upskill these healthcare workers in the areas of maternal health, infectious diseases and chronic diseases, empowering them to become a crucial link between their communities and Timor-Leste’s national healthcare facilities.
Improving maternal and child health outcomes
In Timor-Leste, maternal and child healthcare are riddled with complex challenges. Limited access to trained medical professionals, low resource levels and the sheer length of time many women face in travelling to clinics mean that malnutrition and infectious diseases can pose ongoing risks to the health of both mothers and children alike. This is where Community Health Workers play another pivotal role, supporting women throughout pregnancy, childbirth and post-natal periods. Their integral work on the ground helps Timorese women across the country’s rural areas receive ongoing healthcare that can be transformative for pregnancy and newborn health outcomes.
Part of the training we provide at Maluk Timor includes empowering Community Health Workers to recognise possible signs of danger throughout pregnancy, delivery, and after delivery. We also equip them with the skills needed to work with women in making safe plans for their delivery, as well as providing ongoing referrals to pre-natal and post-natal check-ups.
Bridging the geographical gaps
For many of us, accessing critical healthcare for our children is as simple as getting in the car or making a phone call. For communities throughout Timor-Leste’s mountainous terrain, they can face a different experience entirely.
It’s not uncommon for rural communities to face journeys of hours, if not days, to reach the closest healthcare clinic. Distance can quickly become a prohibitive barrier, keeping children from accessing healthcare that’s crucial to their ongoing healthy development.
The continued development of Community Health Workers helps to bridge the geographical gaps that challenge Timor-Leste’s growing population. By bringing key health services directly to rural communities, more children are able to access life-changing – and potentially life-saving – services that contribute to their long-term health and wellbeing.
Where key healthcare clinics can’t be of service, Community Health Workers create access to healthcare that would otherwise be impossible.
Maluk Timor’s ongoing support of Community Health Workers
Our commitment to the health of young Timorese children is simple, but powerful: it’s our goal to develop a highly skilled and expert health workforce that delivers strong, sustainable health care throughout the country. As a young nation that’s still rebuilding after decades of conflict, Timor-Leste’s healthcare system has come a long way since 1999, when there were only 70 GPs and a single specialist for the entire nation. Today, there are over 950 doctors, more than 2200 nurses and midwives, 40 specialists and more than 60 community clinics.
Even with this growing infrastructure, the challenges that face a diverse geographic region are many. With trained Community Health Workers bringing the power of ongoing healthcare access to rural communities, however, many Timorese children are supported for a brighter, healthier future.
We celebrate these improvements every day here at Maluk Timor – but we can’t keep growing without your health. A small donation goes a powerfully long way in a country where the per-person health budget is under $100 USD per year. For $24, you can cover the cost of petrol for a month, empowering a Community Health Worker to provide crucial care to young Timorese children, their families and communities. Join our global family today in contributing to a brighter, healthier and strong future for Timor-Leste.