Background:

The Ministry of Health of Timor-Leste (MOH) has made remarkable strides toward establishment of a functioning, effective health system. This has occurred in spite of the enormous challenges faced at the time of independence. The current policy environment supports important Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health (MNCH) interventions, including family planning. The MOH is close to meeting its human resource requirements for basic Maternal, Neonatal, and Child Health, Family Planning and Sexual and Reproductive Health,but only if the staff is well-trained and correctly resourced in their assigned Community Health Centers (CHC) and Health Posts (HP) throughout the country. Some MOH staff require special attention, including physicians trained in Cuba and currently assigned to municipalities, uncertified midwives, and new midwifery graduates. Health worker competency in family planning, counseling for healthy timing and spacing of pregnancies, safe motherhood, essential newborn care, and other skills require consistent high-quality training, follow-up after training, supportive supervision, coaching and mentoring. 

Summary:

USAID’s Reinforce Basic Health Services Project supports the USAID Country Development Cooperation Strategy’s objective of strengthening institutional and human capacity to improve the lives of Timor-Leste’s citizens, contributing specifically to Increased Capacity to Deliver Responsive Services at National and Sub-National Levels.

The Project will build the ability of MOH staff to deliver high-quality and high-impact services. By the end of the project, the MOH will be providing continuous Mother Neonatal and Child Health and family planning training, competency-based certification, and on-site support to MOH staff nationwide.  USAID’s Reinforce Basic Health Services Project will increase provider adherence to protocols and standards, increase the percentage of women receiving at least 4 antenatal care visits, increase the number of deliveries at health facilities, and increase the use of family planning as measured by couple years of protection especially among youth and high priority women.

USAID’s Reinforce Basic Health Services Project will support the MOH in Covalima Municipality to become a model for Timor-Leste and an example of strong coordination with the national level in Dili. At the heart of the success for the model municipality are high-quality integrated services and community outreach, quality improvement, teamwork, micro-planning, problem solving and monitoring. In Covalima municipality, USAID’s Reinforce Basic Health Services Project will support the MOH in identifying and overcoming barriers to health service delivery and utilization, including difficulty of access due to long distances, stock-outs, lack of knowledge regarding the need for care, lack of specialized services, and poorly skilled providers. As health service capacity and use increase, the municipality will become a model for increased national momentum towards improved health service provision in Timor-Leste.