Menzies School of Health Research established an office in Dili, Timor-Leste in 2019 to support a growing program of work helping the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Agriculture to improve surveillance and response to some of the biggest infectious diseases challenges the country is facing.
Our work has focused on surveillance system and response strengthening; antimicrobial resistance (AMR); rheumatic heart disease, tuberculosis, pneumonia, gastroenteritis, meningitis, encephalitis. Our funding for this work comes predominantly from the Fleming Fund (a UK aid program managed by the UK’s Department of Health & Social Care) and the Indo-Pacific Centre for Health Security (DFAT).
In the last couple of months, we have also increased our support to the Ministry of Health in preparing Timor-Leste to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The government of Timor-Leste has been very proactive in instituting measures focused on border control, quarantine, social distancing and hand hygiene.
Here are some photos from the team in Dili:
Australian Ambassador Peter Roberts and interim Timor-Leste Minister of Health Elia Amaral at a ground breaking ceremony for an extension to the laboratory in Dili.
Menzies project leader Dr Josh Francis and infectious diseases physician and microbiologist Dr Ian Marr talk to local media.
Dr Nick Fancourt, Ellie Price, Katrina Lawrence and Dr NevioSarmento in the Menzies lab facilities in Timor-Leste.
Menzies team members checking out the new blood culture analyser in the lab.
Lab staff with the newly installed Phoenix machine for organism identification.