Paulina Quintao – The government through the Health Ministry has allocated funding to establish a special mental health clinic, with an appropriate site now in the process of being identified.

Paulina Quintao – Deputy Ministry of Health Ana Isabel Soares said improving the professional ethics and attitude of medical personnel remains a significant challenge for the Ministry of Health, pa

Jakarta – Anti-tobacco activists have accused three private broadcasters of airing cigarette ads during family viewing hours in another example of just how aggressive tobacco companies can be in ad

Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – Life has never been easy for children living with HIV/AIDS, a cruel disease that requires costly daily treatments.

Paulina Quintao – The Dili municipality authority has handed responsibility for waste management to the private sector.

The ultrasound machine donated to Timor-Leste by Forbes Medical Centre is in constant use in Same Hospital, saving patients a very long trip by rough roads to the capital Dili.

Sometimes communities can decide to support a project that can really make a difference to the lives of others.

Jakarta – High school students from 30 schools in Bekasi, South Tangerang and Bogor, held a rally on Jl.

Jakarta – Cigarette companies in Indonesia are targeting schoolchildren by spending massively on advertising in and around school areas, non-profit child advocacy organization Lentera Anak Indonesi

Paulina Quintao – Timor-Leste continues to face big challenges in reducing HIV infection rates as many communities in rural areas still lack understanding about the risks and how the virus is trans

Emma Rumney – Falling health funding in Timor-Leste must be met with better planning and policies to manage rising costs, the World Bank has said.

Paulina Quintao – According to data from the 2015 household census, 40,000 people in Timor-Leste (32%) still defecate in public as they don't have access to a toilet.

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – In a bid to eradicate unfair business practices in the health sector, which drives up health costs, and to provide affordable quality healthcare services, the Health M

Jakarta – Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) chairman Syarkawi Rauf has seen a trend of unhealthy competition in the pharmacy industry.

Margaret Wurth – Buy a pack of cigarettes today and chances are you'll see a prominent warning that the product may be harmful to human health.

Stefani Ribka, Jakarta – Cigarette ad spending for television and print media surged 45 percent to Rp 6.3 trillion (US$470.8 million) in 2016 despite a ban on cigarette ads on billboards in Jakarta

Paulina Quintao – The government is still unable to calculate annual medical supply needs accurately as hospitals are not providing a daily record of stock quantities and usage.

Paulina Quintao – The salt brand Kapal which is produced in Indonesia and has been available in Timor-Leste for many years is intended to be used in pig feed rather than human consumption.

Paulina Quintao – Data shows that 20% of Timorese companies producing bottled water do not meet international standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Thomas Ora, Dili, Timor Leste – Nothing unusual happened when Aitarak – not his real name – moved from Timor-Leste to Malang in Indonesia's East Java province to study law, three years before the c

Jakarta – For a country with the world's largest population of Muslims, Indonesia is remarkably permissive.

Margareth S.

Arya Dipa, Bandung – Six supporters of Surabaya soccer club Persebaya have died after consuming bootleg liquor in Subang, West Java, while on their way to Bandung to support their club during the S

Bambang Muryanto, Yogyakarta – The number of adolescents giving birth following premarital sex in Yogyakarta has remained high, reaching at least 720 from January to November this year, data from a

Jakarta – The country is still recording high maternal mortality rates because a lot of mothers have not been able to access immediate treatment after giving birth because of their geographical loc

Anton Hermansyah, Jakarta – The Supreme Court has annulled the Industry Ministry's tobacco road map, which aimed to increase cigarette production by 5 to 7.4 percent per year, from 2015 to 2020.

Jakarta – Tobacco companies must go all-out with campaigns against underage smoking, including removing tobacco product advertisements near schools, a children's protection group has urged.

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – Weak enforcement of tobacco regulations has hampered the country's efforts to prevent children from accessing cigarettes, amid growing concerns that some boys take up

Paulina Quintao – The Ministry of Health (MoH) in cooperation with its partners has set up a taskforce to help prevent diseases spread by animals, including rabies and influenza (H1N1 virus).

Paulina Quintao – Washing hands before eating is very important for the prevention of infectious and other diseases but most Timorese are still used to it.

Paulina Quintao – The National Parliament (NP) has created a resolution to compel relevant line ministries to implement the integrated national program for combating malnutrition in the country.

Paulina Quintao – Four containers full of medicines at the Medicine and Medical Equipment Autonomous Service (SAMES) warehouse were alleged to be expired and the government will have to destroy the

Paulina Quintao – Three to five people out of 40 people who donated blood each day are found to be Hepatitis B positive, based on new data made available from the National Blood Bank (BNS) of Timor

Marguerite Afra Sapiie, Jakarta – After years of a tug-of-war between the Religious Affairs Ministry and the Indonesia Ulema Council (MUI) over the authority to issue certification for halal produc

Paulina Quintao – National MP Osorio Florindo is disappointed with the attitude of some health officials who provide substandard health services and threaten the patients at the Bazartete Health ce

Susan Schulman, Kambele, Indonesia – Martina Wanago was sick. In fact, she was sure she would die.

Jakarta – Indonesia should make greater effort to protect children in the country, even though it has made significant, life-saving progress on children's rights and welfare over the past decades,

Paulina Quintao – National MP's praise the better quality of private health services, facilities and equipment in comparison with pubic health services available to the community in Timor-Leste.

Paulina Quintao – National MP Leonel Marcal called on the Ministry of Health to ban private pharmacies from selling formalin to the community without a medical prescription.

Paulina Quintao – Timor-Leste has yet to introduce legislation to standardize food safety regulations for imports to the country.

Paulina Quintao – A newly launched integrated program is aiming to reduce malnutrition rates in the country, particularly in Aileu municipality.

Paulina Quintao – There are calls for the Health Ministry to change the medication procurement system and introduce a specific process to address the lack of medication stocks at health facilities.

Hans Nicholas Jong, Jakarta – Indonesia is the second-worst place in the Asia Pacific region for people suffering from mental illness, according to a recent report.

Moses Ompusunggu, Jakarta – The country is at risk of being unable to cater for the growing domestic demand for health care, as most of hospitals in the nation have yet to meet necessary service-qu

Isabel Ermelita – The Timor-Leste Health Ministry is continuing to promote the use of condoms to at-risk groups to prevent the transmission of HIV, but still recommends that the wider community pra

Paulina Quintao – Although the Education Ministry has formally included sexual health as a subject in the national curriculum, this has not yet been implemented as teachers still felt uncomfortable

Paulina Quintao – The Deputy President of the Timor-Leste Parliamentary Women's Group (GMPTL), Albina Marcal, said many women especially in rural areas were having multiple pregnancies close togeth

Paulina Quintao – Every year almost 10,000 out of one million people in Timor-Leste will suffer from hepatitis, according to estimates from the Health Ministry based on data from the National Blood

Moses Ompusunggu, Jakarta – The government's decision to raise cigarette duties will not deter tobacco consumption in the country, public health experts and activists say, as the new price will kee

Jakarta – In connection with World Contraception Day on Sept.