More than 20 children are being treated for malnutrition Hamutuk Ita Ajuda Malu’s (HIAM Health) rehabilitation center. 
HIAM Health director Rosaria da Cruz most of the patients had been transferred to the center from the National Hospital while others had been referred by community health centers.
Director da Cruz said most of the patients were under five years of age.
He said limited clinic beds meant the rehabilitation center could care for only 20 people at a time.
Patient stays are generally limited to three weeks but can be extended for extreme cases.
Patients can be accompanied by up to two immediate family members.
HIAM Health rehabilitation and education program manager Maria Leonelia said patients’ families were required to attend a nutrition education program during the patients’ treatment.
“Every day in the morning the patients’ families are obligated to attend health education,” she said.
They are taught how to prepare healthy meals.
“Malnutrition occurs not because of a food shortage but through a lack of information, care and hygiene,” she said.
Education could change people’s thoughts and attitudes and prevent malnutrition, she said.
The center treated 46 people for malnutrition in March.
Leonelia said the patients were primarily from Ermera and Dili.
Rosa Soares, the mother of a patient at the centre, thanked HIAM Health for its assistance in the rehabilitation of her daughter.
Soares said she would use the knowledge she acquired at the center.
“They shared with us information on how to mix milk to feed the baby so that we get back home we can do it,” she said.
She said her daughter had been hospitalized for three weeks at the National Hospital of Guido Valadares (HGNV) with severe diarrhea before she was transferred to HIAM Health.
