The government of Timor-Leste wants to lift the 32 per cent of adolescents aged 14-19 in Timor-Leste from having anaemia, a condition that’s linked to long-term consequences for the health, including pregnancy complications like premature births, and maternal mortality.

The Ministry of Health said it will support the establishment of a nutrition program that will  provide adolescent girls free weekly access to the supplements at schools in Covalima, Lautem, Liquiçá, and Manufahi, in addition to the Oe-Cusse Ambeno Special Administrative Region.

Timor-Leste’s Vice Minister for Institutional Strengthening in Health  José dos Reis Magno said the government aimed to target 95,000 adolescents to “improve the nutrition of adolescent girls” because combatting anaemia is a “critical health challenge.”

Addressing the nutritional needs of adolescent girls through weekly iron and folic acid supplementation supports the life cycle approach to reducing malnutrition, said Magno.

Bilal Aurang Zeb Durrani, UNICEF’s representative in Timor-Leste, said that the collaboration represents “our collective commitment to sustainable investments in the health, nutrition and well-being of adolescent girls, protecting them against all forms of malnutrition”.

Tetusya Kimura, the Ambassador of Japan to Timor-Leste, said that “the 'first 1000 days', the days from conception until the child turns two, are the critical period in a person's life that can determine their entire life” .