DILI,11 september 2023 ( TATOLI)-After 21 years of independence, despite efforts being made by the government, development partners, and humanitarian organizations, malnutrition remains one of the national issues that require serious action to step up efforts to address the issue.
In an Interview with Arvind Mathur, Country Representative of the World Health Organization (WHO), Mathur highlights essential nutrition interventions made by the World Health Organization, Ministry of Health, government stakeholders, and partners including advocacy, technical support and capacity building to foster collaborative results in Timor-Leste.
“Key formulated including Technical support to government ministries for strengthened scale-up of essential nutrition interventions including infant feeding, management of micronutrient deficiencies, interventions to prevent overweight/obesity, and promotion of healthy diets. Formulation/adaptation of national guidelines and technical support to capacity building on nutrition and food safety, Support strengthening knowledge management systems for nutrition, and Design evidence-based guidance on linkages between nutrition, diet, and non-communicable diseases. Fostering multisectoral collaboration among government, non-government partners, and other development partners.” Arvin Mathur told Tatoli in his Office, Caicolo Dili.
Previously the government and partners had taken serious action by launching the National Health Sector Nutrition Strategic Plan for 2022-2026 to combat malnutrition, especially stunting in Timorese children.
In its Consolidated National Action Plan for Nutrition and Food Security (CNAP), the Government has set the goal to reduce stunting by 22% (from 47% to 25%) by 2030.
With the launching of the National Health Sector Nutrition Strategic Plan, the government also committed to bringing down the prevalence of rickets from 8.6% in 2020 to 3.0% by 2030.
To combat malnutrition, especially stunting in Timor-Leste, the government has taken several important measures, including adopting the National Nutrition Strategy (2014-2019), National Policy for Food Security and Nutrition (2017), and the National Action Plan for Food Security and Nutrition (CNAP FNS 2022) under the aegis of KONSANTIL, as an inter-ministerial and inter-sectoral strategic body, composed of public and private entities, with representatives of development partners and civil society entities, both national and international.
Another important measure was accessing, in october 2020, the SUN (Scaling Up Nutrition) Movement.
According to data from the 2020 Food and Nutrition Survey, up to the age of five, around 47% of children suffer from dwarfism, and 8.8% of weight that considered adequate by international health standards.
Journalist: Camilio de Sousa
Editor : Nelia B.
