Dili 18 January 2021 – The European Union (EU) and World Health Organization (WHO) are joining forces to mitigate the health impacts of communicable diseases – particularly of COVID-19 – and to contribute to building strong, effective and resilient health systems in Timor-Leste.
The European Union, under the partnership, spread over 20 months period has committed nearly, USD 2.4 million (EURO 2 million).
Beyond the overarching objective of health systems strengthening, the project will be guided by four major strategic objectives;
- To mount effective COVID-19 response operations that are gender responsive and inclusive of all, participatory, transparent and accountable
- To strengthen testing capacity, detecting, and monitoring COVID-19 cases
- To reduce the risk of advance impacts on morbidity and mortality including from other health issues, and
- To access timely availability of technical experts, personal protective equipment (PPE) and other non-medical items required for the prevention and mitigation of COVID-19
“Despite the relatively low number of cases, Timor-Leste continues to be at risk. However, with the collective support from partners like European Union and WHO, we can build better and stronger health systems in Timor-Leste”, said dr. Odete Maria Freitas Belo, MPH, Minister of Health.
“The world is facing unprecedented health, social and economic shocks from COVID-19. The European is pleased to join forces with the World Health Organization as a key part of Team Europe’s efforts to address impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Timor-Leste. The EU new partnership with the WHO will support the Ministry of Health to scale up public health efforts and better protect people. The initiative will strengthen the capacity of the National laboratory capacity so as to improve the management of COVID-19 cases and support the Saude na Familia centres providing new diagnostics equipment and medicines,” said Andrew Jacobs, Ambassador of the European Union to Timor-Leste.
The project will not only be centred at the national level. It will be spread across the country and work on strengthening health systems down to the suco level.
The leading role of WHO in the area of strengthening health systems and providing technical assistance and being the international normative agency in the area of health policy in general, makes WHO the suitable institution to support the Ministry of Health in building resilient health systems that can mount a robust response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The WHO technical support will involve policy dialogue, strategic support, technical expertise and where appropriate, direct service provision.
In addition to COVID-19 response, this partnership also aims to reduce the risks of adverse impacts on morbidity and mortality including from other health issues in Timor-Leste. “The contribution of the European Union is critical to WHO’s efforts to support Timor-Leste in responding to the ongoing pandemic and together we must continue to strengthen COVID-19 response by aggressively implementing the basic public health preventive measures. The EU-WHO collaboration in the area of UHC has been a great showcase of what our collective collaboration can do to help the MoH strengthen health systems. I am glad that EU-WHO are partnering once again. We are excitedly looking forward to our continued collaboration,” said Dr Arvind Mathur, WHO Representative.
For more information, please contact:
Ministry of Health – Raul Sarmento, Chief of Public Relations Department
European Union in Dili – Reno Bernardo - Communication & Visibility reno-febian.bernardo@eeas.europa.eu
WHO – Elisabeth Hasan, Communication Associate, WHO, Timor-Leste, hasane@who.int