The main role of the health sector is to contribute to maintaining peace and stability in Timor-Leste, particularly in terms of ensuring that the population is in good health, according to Deputy Health Minister Ana Isabel Soares.
She said if all people were healthy physically and mentally, then this prevented them from being influenced by negative factors that could potentially destabilize the country.
Therefore, she said the Health Ministry is continuing efforts to ensure peace in Timor.
“If you are unhealthy [or] stressed then you can be easily influenced and [therefore] you will do whatever people ask you, but when you are healthy and educated, it is difficult for bad people to influence you,” said Soares after participating in a roundtable discussion on health and medication at Hotel Timor in Dili.
She said the health sector in Timor-Leste has made significant progress, particularly in reducing child mortality rates. Programs have also been effective in controlling malaria, tuberculosis and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), while improvements have also been made in terms of health infrastructure and human resource development.
However, the health sector continues to face challenges such as malnutrition and non-communicable disease, as well as poor community access to health facilities.
Soares said a number of priority programs had been established aimed at improving access to health facilities and primary healthcare. Each health post is now staffed by a doctor, midwife and nurse, with efforts also being made to strengthen the capacity of the National Hospital in order to reduce the number of patients transferred overseas for treatment.
The meeting was part of an international conference in Dili, held under the theme ‘citizenship, peace and well-being’.
The event was held to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Bishop Dom Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and former President Jose Ramos-Horta.
Nobel laureate Karlmeinrad Giesinger who spoke about issues around health, peace and development said it was difficult to talk specifically about the situation in Timor-Leste, but the most important thing was to prevent infectious diseases.
He said the leaders in each sector should be aware about what they need to be doing in order to ensure peace and people’s well-being.
Meanwhile, General Director of the National Hospital Jose Antonio said the event was an opportunity for Timor-Leste to connect with other Nobel laureates and exchange ideas and find solutions to ongoing issues facing the country, particularly malnutrition.
“We should take this opportunity to make connections with them (laureates) and hope that they will come back to promote good ideas that could be of benefit to the Timorese people,” he said.
