Soe, South Central Timor – The Government of Timor Tengah Selatan (TTS) District together with civil society organizations and local communities expressed a joint commitment to improve access to comprehensive, quality, and inclusive reproductive health information and services. The main focus of this commitment is on family planning and Post Abortion Care (PAC) for women and girls.
The commitment was signed on October 24, 2025 in Niki-, South Central Timor, during the TAKENUSA project community health workers (CHW) Jamboree. The event was attended by 100 CHW from four villages in TTS district under the CIS Timor Indonesia Foundation.
This commitment is considered very important considering the condition of reproductive health in TTS, especially the high maternal and infant mortality rates. The TTS District Health Office recorded 19 cases of maternal death in 2024. For this year, until October 2025, 13 cases have been recorded.
“As for infant mortality, it has decreased from 82 infants in 2023, 73 infants in 2024 and 66 infants now (October 2025),” said Dr. R.A Karolina Tahun, Head of the TTS District Health Office.
Meanwhile, the fertility rate in TTS remains stagnant. The fertility rate only dropped from 3.0 in 2022 to 2.88 in 2024, indicating that many women still give birth to more than two children.
In terms of family planning, there is still an unmet need for contraception, which could potentially lead to unplanned pregnancies.
“Earlier I described that it turns out that our PUS chose non-LACM family planning more than LACM,” said the Head of P2KB Office drg. Matilda Kase, M.Kes.
Seeing these two sides, the high maternal and infant mortality rates and the low fulfillment of family planning needs require commitment from all parties to strengthen reproductive health services that are responsive to the needs of women and adolescent girls in South Central Timor District.
This commitment was also signed separately by the Bupati of TTS District on November 6, 2025 at his office.
CIS Timor Indonesia Foundation Director Haris Oematan said that this joint commitment is one of the keys to the sustainability of the TAKENUSA project in South Central Timor.
“Therefore it is very important that all parties provide support for what has been done in this project. Because this commitment is the entry point for the community to demand responsibility,” he said.
He hopes that the local government can provide support such as strengthening cadres, funding for sustainability as a concrete form of this commitment.
