On 16 October 2025, World Food Day reminds us all that food is about far more than nourishment. As the foundation of health, dignity, and our ability to grow each day, good nutrition truly shapes the future of communities. In Timor-Leste, where nearly half of children under the age of five experience stunted growth as a result of chronic malnutrition, the connection between food and health is an observable daily reality.
Maluk Timor’s work in nutrition is woven throughout many of our health programs, from maternal care and community outreach through to education and disease prevention. Here, we see food, health and hope coming together daily to give Timorese communities a brighter hope for their future.
The life-long impact of malnutrition
Malnutrition can have a life-long impact, lasting from childhood development through to adult health and longevity.
Malnutrition in children can lead to stunting, where both physical growth and brain development are slowed without access to key nutrients. Stunting can lead to learning difficulties, reduced abilities in school, and lower productivity in adult life. Over time, this stunting not only affects the individual who was malnourished, but has negative ramifications on the social and economic progression of entire communities.
In Timor-Leste, malnutrition continues to be one of the most urgent public health challenges. With many communities facing the challenges of limited food access, inconsistent access to clean water, and climate-related disruptions to local agriculture, a lack of adequate food resources can create significant life-long challenges for malnourished children and their families.
As with so many areas of our focus at Maluk Timor, we know that these problems aren’t insurmountable – but they do require targeted efforts, strategic collaborations, and the ongoing provision of resources from our global communities of supporters. As a result, we’re able to keep building systems that prioritise the access communities have to sustainable food and water sources, as well as empowering local knowledge that improves long-term health outcomes.
Nourishing mothers to nourish their children
One of the most powerful ways to fight back against malnutrition is by beginning with nourishing mothers. Since good nutrition begins long before birth, Maluk Timor’s maternal and child health programs support women throughout pregnancy and early motherhood, key time periods when adequate nutrition is so critical to future health outcomes.
Antenatal care is often lacking in Timor-Leste, often as a result of geographical distance or a lack of education. With our mobile outreach clinics, we work to provide essential antenatal care that also includes nutrition screening, counselling and ongoing follow-up for pregnant mothers and mothers of young children.
In 2024-2025 alone, 350 women and children have been identified as having malnutrition and received ongoing assessment and counselling as a result of our maternal healthcare programs.
This work takes place alongside our strategic training of community health care workers. PSFs (Promotor Saúde Familiar) are the community health workers of Timor-Leste who Maluk Timor work closely with, empowering them with relevant skills and knowledge about malnutrition, maternal health, infectious and chronic diseases, and holistic health promotion.
As an integral part of their local communities, PSFs are able to share this critical information to educate their fellow community members. This work allows us to fight against the spread of malnutrition through targeted community education, as well as the provision of local healthcare support for pregnant women and mothers.
How education and access fight stunting
In order to use good nutrition to build brighter futures for Timorese communities, education and access need to go hand in hand.
Knowledge about the importance of nutrition doesn’t go far if communities aren’t able to access diverse, healthy food that meets their nutritional needs. That’s why our work at Maluk Timor is not only about teaching healthy nutrition practices, but also on building local systems that help to protect this access over the long-term.
Our work in this area includes:
- Upskilling nutrition specialists – we host regular nutrition networking events that enable the upskilling and peer learning of nutrition workers. In these events, culturally appropriate forms of nutrition education enable nutrition specialists to learn from each other as they share the most effective strategies for combating malnutrition.
- Strengthening the malnutrition referral system – the Maluk Timor team had identified that severe cases of malnutrition who were sent to hospital weren’t always getting the ongoing treatment they required for a full recovery. We began working with the Ministry of Health, Hospital Nacional Guido Valadares (HNGV) and five Community Health Clinics to improve and strengthen the referral and follow-up system for children who are at risk of or suffering from malnutrition. As a result, these children are able to access the ongoing treatment and support they need to make a complete recovery and decrease relapse rates.
Conclusion
Adequate nutrition is the foundation on which communities are able to build futures filled with hope and opportunity, not just throughout Timor-Leste, but around the world. For Timorese communities facing the challenges of food insecurity and limited access to care, our work continues to play a vital part in the fight against malnutrition.
Through community education, outreach clinics, and partnerships with local health workers, we’ve been able to nourish mothers throughout pregnancy, diagnose malnutrition in women and children, and provide communities with knowledge and tools necessary to strengthen their hope for the future.
As we collectively recognise World Food Day 2025, we have an opportunity to remember that every meal has the power to build hope for a brighter future. Your support of Maluk Timor helps to protect the future of Timorese children, giving them the resources they need to grow to their full potential – nourished, healthy, and empowered with hope for the future.