WFP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific - 2016 SPRs RBB 2016 SPRs by project type | Page 257

Standard Project Report 2016
materials. In addition, WFP supported its partners World Vision and Alola Foundation to establish mother support
groups to generate demand for nutrition treatment. Working with the Health Promotion Department, WFP developed
posters, three videos in the official language of Timor-Leste, Tetun, and one in a district language Baikeno, along
with interactive educational activities to promote positive behaviours around infant feeding, maternal nutrition, and
visiting health clinics when a child is sick.
As a result of these activities, the uptake of the nutrition treatment increased in 2016, compared to 2015. An
additional factor leading to the strong uptake of nutrition treatment services was the mass screening of 16,000
households in three municipalities and subsequent referral of any pregnant and lactating women or children found
to be suffering from MAM or SAM. The mass screening was a particularly effective tool since community
understanding of malnutrition was very low and mobilising communities was a challenge, given that there was no
common and easily accessible form of mass media to inform communities about the nutrition treatment.
However, some municipalities such as Oecusse, which showed improvements in nutrition treatment uptake as a
result of the behaviour change activities and which also implemented a pilot project to distribute food to children
aged 6-23 months, still experienced slower uptake levels once the mobilisation activities stopped. This highlighted
the need for ongoing health promotion events in targeted areas and continued advocacy on the need for health
promotion outreach.
Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of (TL)
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Development Project - 200770