USAID | Timor-Leste and the Ministry of Health launched a groundbreaking initiative to bolster professional competence of health professionals to deliver and improve quality of health care services in Timor-Leste.

Civil society organizations in Timor-Leste are playing important roles to identify health system problems and solutions, contribute ideas to the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) annual action plan, and participate in monitoring that holds the government accountable.

Returning funds to the Ministry of Finance at the end of the fiscal year is the last thing any Ministry of Health wants to do. In Peru, health budget officials are rolling out a strategy to stop that from happening.

Since its establishment in 2022, REBAS-TL has promoted civil society engagement with the country’s health sector to strengthen health outcomes for the Timorese people. 

The ministry of health tracks more than 80 indicators to guide decision making on health programs in Timor-Leste. This training helps guarantee quality of data in the system. 

​​​For countries wanting to strengthen health budget execution, learning about promising approaches used by others is one thing but putting them into practice is another. This blog reveals how two countries, Lao PDR and Peru, adapted promising practices and began to implement them.

Excerpts from an interview with Mr. Marcelo Amaral, Director General of Corporate Service at the Ministry of Health in Timor-Leste.

The ‘COVID19 SAFE’ project opened with the launch of COVID-19 vaccination to school-age children (12–17 years old) in the Bobonaro municipality. The USAID Activity, working through HAMNASA, supported the Ministry of Health and Municipality Health Services in conducting community mobilization and disseminating COVID-19 information to the Memo village community, including to teachers and parents of school-age children.

U.S. Charge d’ Affaires Tom Daley and USAID Mission Director Zema Semunegus join the representative from local nongovernmental organizations and the Ministry of Health to launch the Heath Advocacy Network of Timor-Leste (REBAS- TL).

Late last year, health sector practitioners from eight countries met to tackle the issue head-on as participants in the Joint Learning Network Health Budget Execution Learning Exchange. They made meaningful progress.

Officials from the health and education sectors of Arequipa, Madre de Dios, Moquegua, Puno and Tacna regions of Peru begin discussions for implementing a regional COVID-19 communications strategy.

The USAID Health System Sustainability activity will work with Timorese officials to train health workers in rural communities on handling different vaccines, using cold chain equipment, and ensuring that community members have equal access to vaccines and essential health care. 

For countries facing a large influx of migrants, the best way to ensure that these new members of society have sustained access to essential health services is to have a long-term strategy – one that builds on existing health platforms.

In the Dominican Republic, the dual impact of large numbers of migrants and a health system overwhelmed by COVID-19 has meant that fewer health services are available for migrant women. LHSS is working to improve health protection for the country’s migrant women, most of whom come from Haiti.

Poor budget execution results in inefficiencies that undermine the ability of health agencies to improve access to needed health services and improve population health. Yet billions of dollars in unexecuted health budgets are returned to treasuries every year.