Even though early detection and appropriate access to treatment can make rheumatic heart disease (RHD) preventable,Timor-Leste still has one of the highest rates of RHD in the world. Most commonly impacting children and young people, severe RHD can lead to conditions that include heart failure, stroke, disability and premature death.
The extreme impact of this preventable disease is why Maluk Timor is focused on strengthening rheumatic heart disease care in Timor-Leste. By working with the Ministry of Health, we’re increasing early detection rates, as well as running the national database of RHD patients who are currently living with the disease throughout the country. Here’s a deeper look at why this work is so integral to the strength of Timor-Leste’s healthcare.
The need for urgent action on RHD
Rheumatic heart disease begins in a simple, often undetected way: with an untreated sore throat caused by a bacterium called Streptococcus pyogenes. Since sore throats can be a common symptom throughout Timor-Leste (and not necessarily always leading to RHD), many of the country’s communities aren’t aware that this symptom requires deeper attention.
Without fast treatment, strep infections can then trigger rheumatic fever. It’s at this point when the heart valves are damaged, creating the ongoing potential for life-long risks and complications.
After this damage has occurred, RHD can’t be reversed. From that point on, the focus is on ongoing long-term management.
This is why urgent action is required in the fight against the devastating impact of rheumatic heart disease. Without clear and proactive intervention, more Timorese children are at risk of developing severe heart conditions.
A clear, proven solution in our RHD programs
The fight back against rheumatic heart disease can be daunting, but Maluk Timor’s approach is based on tried-and-true solutions that have already worked to reduce the disease’s impacts in many other regions around the world.
These include:
- Screening and early detection – we promote the early detection of RHD through screening and access to echocardiograms. This helps to identify those Timorese people who are most at risk before the disease is able to cause permanent damage. As a result of these early diagnoses interventions, more families are able to urgently access life-saving healthcare support.
- Supporting access to crucial treatment – every week, our Maluk Timor nurses collaborate with Ministry of Health doctors and nurses to deliver penicillin injections to children and adults living with RHD. In 2025 alone, we’ve helped 164 children across the country who are living with RHD to access penicillin.
- The development of national guidelines – Maluk Timor has created the guidelines that the Ministry of Health went on to adopt as their official RHD guidelines. They’re being used to model a new national program that includes training healthcare workers to safely administer penicillin injections, as well as helping to standardise the diagnosis and treatment of RHD patients.
- Training and mentoring healthcare workers – Since 2022, we’ve delivered RHD training in 10 municipalities, upskilling healthcare workers in their abilities to successfully combat the impacts of this disease. Using our approved RHD guidelines, we continue to work with the Ministry of Health to implement RHD training for doctors, midwives, pharmacists and nurses across Timor-Leste.
- Community engagement – as with many of our programs, we know the power of working directly with communities to collaborate on better healthcare outcomes for their families. We work directly with local healthcare workers throughout the country to build community awareness and engagement. This critical work helps to increase the abilities of a national system that’s capable of eliminating RHD in Timor-Leste in the future.
The impact of our global community’s support
The life-saving work we do in the fight against rheumatic heart disease in Timor-Leste couldn’t happen without the support of our global community. With members of the Maluk Timor family living around the world, our supporters are vital in our efforts to reach more children and protect more families from the ongoing threat of a future impacted by RHD.
We say it over and over, because it’s true: a little goes a long way to improving health in Timor-Leste. $20 alone is the cost of a benzocaine penicillin dose from Australia, which is less painful for the patient than the currently available powdered penicillin.
For $850/month, a local doctor can be covered to participate in our RHD mentoring program. $650 a month covers the cost of the salary for one of our RHD nurses.
With our current RHD service costing approximately $100,000 a year to deliver, we have our eyes set on a healthier future with the goals of:
- Further developed training based on the national guidelines
- The funding of an echocardiography training program in collaboration with Menzies School of Research
- Continued support for ongoing research in the area of RHD
- The development of audio-visual community education resources
Each of these future initiatives have a direct impact on how many children we can protect from RHD, as well as the healthcare continuity we can provide to those already living with it.
We’re grateful to our global community of supporters who share our vision for an RHD-free Timor-Leste, actively contributing month by month to change the lives of Timorese children at risk of life-long impact from this disease.
Conclusion
Rheumatic heart disease places an outsized burden on the children, families and healthcare systems of Timor-Leste. With the right healthcare interventions, systemic training, and teaching approaches, the cycle of RHD devastation can be broken.
At Maluk Timor, we’ve seen the proof of small changes adding up to major outcomes in every step of our RHD treatment journey. With every dose of penicillin that’s administered, every early detection screening and every healthcare worker who’s equipped with new skills to fight back against this disease, we see Timor-Leste moving closer to an RHD-free future.
Your crucial support is how we make this vision a reality. We invite you to become a part of the fight against this preventable disease today by joining our global Maluk Timor community.