USAID seeks to improve the health of Timor-Leste's people, especially women and children at greatest risk. As the poorest country in Southeast Asia, Timor-Leste faces many significant health challenges. Rates of maternal, infant, and child mortality are among the highest in the world. Infectious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, and dengue are also highly prevalent. Controlling these diseases is made more difficult by a weak health care network and low capacity among health service providers.

USAID is providing technical assistance to the Ministry of Health to strengthen and extend effective child health interventions throughout Timor-Leste in order to decrease infant and child mortality rates and reduce the impact of priority infectious diseases.
USAID's program places responsibility for health care within the community first to encourage increasing use of appropriate health care services and family health practices. A network of community institutions, supported by USAID, helps ensure long-term accessibility to positive health promotion activities.

Improving Maternal and Child Health

USAID is working to improve the health care given to women and children, while promoting healthy behavior in the communities. Key best practices promoted include exclusive breastfeeding, timely and adequate complementary feeding, immunization, hand-washing, pre- and post-natal care for women, delivery by skilled birth attendants, newborn care, and appropriate care-seeking behavior.

Control of Priority Infectious Diseases

USAID is strengthening malaria control by distributing long-lasting, insecticide-treated bed-nets for all children under five and pregnant women and improving detection and treatment of the disease. Technical assistance on diagnosis and drug efficacy is coordinated in partnership with the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit (NAMRU2), based in Jakarta, which also plans to establish a satellite infectious diseases laboratory in Timor-Leste. This lab will also strengthen local capacity to conduct epidemiological surveillance for infectious diseases, including avian influenza in humans. During the humanitarian crisis that broke out in April 2006, USAID supported the distribution of long-lasting insecticide treated nets and training for health volunteers to deliver key health promotion messages in camps for internally displaced persons.
While Timor-Timor-Leste has been fortunate to have avoided Avian Influenza to date, it borders the country with the most human cases detected and which poses the greatest number of challenges from the standpoint of surveillance, Indonesia. USAID, through the Food and Agriculture Organization, is supporting the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, to initiate communication and public awareness activities for the prevention and control of Avian influenza in the country.

Nutrition

USAID addresses chronic malnutrition in Timor-Leste, both through rapid intervention measures being implemented by CARE and by providing food aid through the World Food Program. USAID’s health program emphasizes nutrition and encourages the use of state-of-the-art nutritional interventions such as vitamin A (to bolster the immune system) and zinc (to reduce deaths from diarrhea by as much as 51 percent).

HIV/AIDS Prevention

After successfully establishing the first national HIV/AIDS program in Timor-Leste, in partnership with Family Health International, USAID assistance led to the approval of a $9 million, five-year grant for HIV/AIDS prevention and control by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.

USAID's Health Partners

To help achieve improved health for Timor-Leste's people, USAID works with several organizations, including Timor-Leste Asisténcia Integradu Saúde (TAIS, a partnership of BASICS and Immunization BASICS), CARE, Catholic Relief Services, Health Alliance International, NAMRU2, and DAI.