Improved
Health for Timor-Leste's People
Health
Partners
USAID works with two main partners to improve
the health of the Timorese people, with special emphases on
maternal and child health and lessening the burden of priority
infectious diseases.
TAIS (Timor-Leste Assistencia Integradu
Saúde)
BASICS and Immunizations Basics have joined
forces in Timor-Leste to establish TAIS (Timor-Leste Assistencia
Integradu Saúde or Integrated Health Assistance Timor-Leste)
to improve services at the sub-district and community levels.
Core interventions in the integrated management of childhood
illnesses (IMCI) include malaria, pneumonia, and diarrheal disease
prevention, control, and treatment; nutrition; and complete
immunization for vaccine-preventable childhood diseases, all
consistent with the top health priorities and policies of the
Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste.
TAIS works to strengthen and improve the delivery
of these interventions through existing Government health facilities
in a way that ensures ownership, sustainability, and capacity
building. With NGO partners like the Catholic Relief Services
and CARE, TAIS assists the Ministry of Health to strengthen
essential preventive services, as well as clinical and community
IMCI, particularly addressing access, use, and quality of services
along a continuum of care from the household to the health facility.
Health Alliance International
In 2004, Health Alliance International (HAI)
was awarded a four-year grant from USAID’s Bureau for
Global Health to support Timor-Leste’s Ministry of Health
in strengthening its national program to improve maternal and
newborn care in seven districts. In December, 2005, HAI received
funding for a three-year program to integrate promotion of child
spacing into its existing program. HAI’s programs are
designed to improve health and reduce mortality for mothers
and their newborns in Timor-Leste.
At the service delivery level, activities
developed and implemented with the Ministry of Health and other
partners include:
• Training and supporting newly
appointed district-based Maternal and Child Health coordinators
to provide integrated and supportive supervision to ensure quality
of care provided by midwives,
• Developing and conducting skills-based training for
midwives in postnatal/newborn care services,
• Supporting operations research projects in areas of
key concern to the Ministry of Health, such as community-based,
birth-friendly facilities.
