International company Sunrise Joint Venture (SJV) has donated $46,000 to the Alola Foundation’s Village Loves Mother and Child (SHIO) programin Aileu and Ainaro districts.
Alola Foundation (FA) executive director Alzira Reis said SHIO began in 2003 with the aimof spreading information about the importance of the health maternal and infant health.
“The health of mothers and their babiesis not the responsibility solely of the mother or the individual but it’s also a social problem; all the people should prioritize this,” Director Reis said in Timor Plaza, Dili.
He said it was important to give support to community health workers in the villages to allow them to serve communities with high mortality rates and limited health facilities such as a lack of staff and transport.
Teams were set up in health facilities in places including the Baucau and Oe-cusse referral hospitals as well as the national referral hospital, to spread information about the importance of breast feeding for infant health as well as what other foods helped maintain health, Reis said.
He said between 2003 and 2012, FA established the SHIO network in 120 villages in 11 districts and with SJV’s support, the program would this year be expanded to include four more villages in Aileu and Ermera.
National Director of the Ministry of Health’s Communitarian Health initiative national director Carlito Soares thanked SJV for its support of FA.
He recognized that rates of maternal and infant mortality were still high in Timor-Leste, and said in the future, the Ministry of Health would make efforts to work closely with development partners on health projects at both a village and national level.
He said diseases which contributed to the high rates of maternal and infant mortality in Timor-Leste included diarrhea, malaria, tuberculosis and pulmonary diseases, as well as malnutrition.
SJV spokesman Antonio Campus dos Santos said SJV was committed to supporting the Timor-Leste government to improve health and education outcomes.
