Morning Briefing

In this post in USAID's "IMPACTblog," Rick Scott, mission director of USAID in Timor-Leste, reports on a health-focused field trip to the "sub-village" of Hatugeo in Timor-Leste's central highlands where USAID-trained community health workers are working to improve maternal and child health by providing pre- and postnatal care information to expectant and new mothers. Hatugeo is located in the district of Ermera, where the infant mortality rate is 70 deaths per 1,000 live births, only three percent of mothers deliver their babies in a health care facility, and a higher percentage of children show signs of malnourishment and illness than in the rest of the country (10/3).