The Global Alliance for Vaccination and Immunization (GAVI) has provided almost $3 million to the Ministry of Health to supports its program to immunize Timorese children in all districts.
Deputy Health Minister Natalia Araujo said the immunization program was an important step in protecting children from diseases such as hepatitis B, measles ad tetanus.
She said those children who received the vaccinations would have the best start in life.
Those who were not vaccinated ran the risk of contracting the diseases which could cause lifelong handicaps.
“The aim of the project is to enforce the health system from the primary to the national level and to mobilize the community to receive health care, including immunizations,” she said at the funding announcement in Kaikoli, Dili.
She said excellent progress had already been made, with Timor-Leste declared no longer at risk for polio or tetanus in 2012.
Ministry of Health monitoring and assessment department chief Mateus Cunha said vaccinations would be offered to children in all 13 districts.
About 70 per cent of Timorese children had received the vaccinations on offer, he said. The 30 per cent not yet vaccinated were primarily in rural areas.
GAVI Timor-Leste manager Andrew Thomson said, the organization was ready to support the government to increase access to vaccination.
The World Health Organization estimates that one in five children who die before the age of five lose their lives to vaccine-preventable diseases.
