Summary of WFP assistance
Poverty, food insecurity and under nutrition remain widespread in Timor-Leste, with 41 percent of the population living below the national poverty line 1 and ov e r h al f food insecure. 2 The Mother and Child Health and Nutrition – Targeted Supplementary Feeding Programme (TSFP) aims to treat moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) in children aged 6-59 months and malnourished pregnant women and nursing mothers, while building the capacity of the Ministry of Health.
In this quarter, the TSFP was expanded to include pregnant and nursing mothers in the existing three municipalities and three new municipalities: Ermera, Ainaro, and Dili. WFP also partnered with a local and an international NGO, to establish mother support groups and provide education on infant and young child feeding practices (IYCF) to mothers and caregivers. These partners commenced work in November.
The programme implemented a number of quick fix interventions to address the low participation rates in certain health posts or high default rates in others, which included increasing community participation and engagement in the programme and communications activities to address low community understanding of malnutrition and the benefits of treating malnutrition.