Nutrition program
Supporting and upskilling nutrition specialists
One in five children in Timor-Leste are stunted by malnutrition
Through education and support, Timor-Leste has done amazing work in halving the child malnutrition rate in the last 20 years.
However one in five children presenting to Timor’s community health centres still have moderate to severe malnutrition. Malnutrition is a hidden emergency that affects too many children with education on the importance of a diverse diet the highest priority.
What are we doing?
Upskilling nutrition specialists
We host monthly nutrition networking events that allow upskilling and peer learning of nutrition workers.
One of the key challenges when it comes to nutrition in Timor-Leste is finding culturally appropriate ways of nutrition education.
By facilitating these evenings we enable nutrition specialists to share the most effective strategies for combatting malnutrition.
In 2021 alone we have:
Delivered training to 27 doctors/nutrition specialists
Strengthening the malnutrition referral system
We identified that severe cases of malnutrition that were sent to hospital weren’t always getting the ongoing treatment needed.
We worked with the Ministry of Health to review and revamp the referral and follow up system to ensure that no child fell through the cracks.
This allows more children to achieve a complete recovery from this entirely preventable health condition.
In 2021 alone we have:
Supported 48 severely malnourished children
Supporting continuing improvement
We are working currently conducting operation research of the malnutrition services at Comoro Community Healthcare Centre to identify any operational improvements.
Although great strides have been made, Timor-Leste only has a small budget for its malnutrition program.
We are always striving for better and more efficient ways of delivering the highest level of care in the most efficient way.
So far we have begun:
Analyzing data collected through our operational research
Latest Nutrition News
Sitting down with Dr Jeremy
Last month, Maluk Timor was lucky to have a visit from some of the Australian Board and some volunteers to our office in Dili. Dr
There is so much to be done and we desperately need to reduce malnutrition rates
Abertina Belo Nutrition Coordinator and the Community Health Centre, Becora On first meeting Mana* Bety, seems a shy and quiet woman, but you can feel
Nutrition Program – 2021 & beyond – How you could help
Nutrition Program – 2021 and beyond An important program still in its early development stages. A major opportunity to address very significant needs of vulnerable
Who we work with on this program?
Timor-Leste Ministry of Health
Little Lives
FUNDING PARTNER
Nick Francourt - Paediatrician & Health Systems Epidemiologist
FUNDING PARTNER
The nutrition team
Sanjay Mathew
Grant and Monitoring and Evaluation Manager
Dentist - Doctor - Grants - Logistics - Mentor - Nutrition - Operations - Oral Health - Timor Team
Elisa Frania H. V. Soares
Nutrition Team Leader
Octaviana Nunes Tavares
Nutrition Healthcare Worker
How your donation helps
A little goes a long way to improving health in Timor-Leste
Run a referral pathway project
$45 p/m
in 12 months
covers the cost of running a referral pathway project in a community health centre.
Nutrition Networking Meeting
$113 p/m
in 12 months
covers the cost of running a nutrition networking meeting.
Nutrition Training Video
$1,250
once
covers the production cost of a high-quality nutrition training resource.
