According to the Timor-Leste Demographicand Health Survey, in 2016 about 46 percent of all childrenless than five years old are stunted, 24 percent are wasted,and 40 percent are anemic. Rural children are more at riskof being malnourished than urban children; boys are atgreater risk than girls of being malnourished in their firsttwo years of life; and thin mothers are at risk of havingwasted or thin children. Only children of mothers in therichest wealth group and with the highest level of educationare at lower risk of being stunted, but the differences arenot large. Breastfeeding practices are better in poor andless well-educated women than among the wealthiest andbest-educated women. The diversity of the complementary dietof children was generally poor. The coverage of vaccinationsin Timor-Leste is generally low. The majority of householdsdrink safe water, but children in poor households that useunprotected water sources are at greater risk of beingstunted. The short stature of mothers may take a generationor more to eliminate. Delaying marriage and pregnancy untilthe age of 20 years, as recommended by the World HealthOrganization (WHO), could be an important intervention.Interventions during pregnancy for thin, small women mayhelp prevent low-birthweight babies and malnutrition earlyin childhood.
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