Sustainable Development Goals
The Challenge
In Timor-Leste, people living in remote villages are prone to infectious diseases while lacking access to the healthcare they desperately need. In the remote villages and rural farming areas of Timor-Leste, families are often living in extremely poor conditions, leading to a long list of health problems. And in many cases, the nearest healthcare facility is simply too far away for people to travel safely. It means painful ailments go untreated, serious conditions are detected too late, children are undernourished and not immunised, and women give birth without professional help. Our local partner Jesuit Social Service Timor-Leste operates two health clinics to serve the needs of the people living in rural areas.
How We’re Helping
We are supporting Centro de Saúde Daniel Ornelas (CSDO) – Jesuit Social Service Health Centre who provides free health treatment to rural communities. Their aim is to develop public health interventions and bring appropriate health services in rural areas where there is poor access to health care. These interventions are be based on the health profile of the community and the existing infrastructures for health services such as clinics, infirmaries, and health centres. Interventions may range from capacity strengthening for government health workers, laboratory support for diagnostics, pharmacy, education campaign on health, or either a fully operational health clinic or a tele-health service using remote doctors attending to local patients.
They envision an inclusive health service, where everyone, regardless of their location or economic status, can enjoy equal health opportunities, including:
- Clinical laboratory with health testing services to prevent, detect, and cure most of the prevalent diseases, such as tuberculosis, dengue fever, and malaria
- Serve those people who are most in need of support, especially women and children in remote areas who are vulnerable to suffering from infectious diseases without any access to medical help
- A mobile clinic offers free medical consultations and treatment to twelve communities on a twice-monthly basis
CSDO has requested a Nursing and Midwife Educator and Mentor. Marion Brand was selected and bring skills and experience which will help with:
- Clinical supervision of nominated staff, with measurable improvement in clinical skills and quality of service
- Professional development of nominated clinical and management staff, with measurable improvement in identifiable professional and management skills
- Capability building of local employees and volunteers
- Being a role model of lifelong learning to other clinic staff by engaging in continuing professional development
Is the Project Sustainable?
This role will help bring lifesaving healthcare closer to those who are cut off from society and living on the margins. Their contribution to providing access to vital medical testing means remote communities can gain control of infectious diseases to relieve suffering and prevent deaths. By providing clinical supervision to other clinic staff, including nurses and midwives, their expertise and confidence in quality care will be enhanced. Marion’s assessment and reporting on local clinic manager and trainee’s progress will enable quantifiable progress and calibratable milestones. The support provided to the two doctors in the International Post Graduate Diploma in Family Medicine course will support face-to-face teaching.
Capacity building is a critical social impact goal for Palms International Volunteering. Active participation as part of the local community and with fellow staff over the placement will allow Marion to build strong relationships and to coach, mentor and upskill others. The aim is for local CSDO team members to be able to be working more independently with new skills by the time her placement ends.
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