ORIGINAL PAPER
Factors influencing animal-source food consumption in Timor-Leste
Johanna T. Wong
1
&
Brigitte Bagnol
1,2,3
&
Heather Grieve
4
&
Joanita Bendita da Costa Jong
5
&
Mu Li
6
&
Robyn G. Alders
1,3
Received: 16 April 2018 /Accepted: 25 April 2018 /Published online: 16 May 2018
#
Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature and International Society for Plant Pathology 2018
Abstract
Poor dietary quality is an underlying contributor to the high rates of maternal and child undernutrition in Timor-Leste. The majority
of households own livestock: however, the consumption of domestic animal-source food (ASF) is low, and there are few reports of
the utilisation of non-domesticated species. This mixed-methods study was conducted in three villages from mid-2015 to mid-2017.
Two hundred and three households with children under 24 months were enrolled in the quantitative study of maternal and child
dietary diversity. To explore factors affecting household ASF consumption, 12 key informants were recruited for in-depth interviews
and 312 participants, mostly mothers and fathers of young children, for focus group discussions. Participants expressed a desire to
consume more ASF. Barriers to ASF consumption include having low income or limited income streams, high levels of small
livestock morbidity and mortality leading to small or unstable flock or herd sizes, reserving livestock for sale and ceremonies, and
living far from forested areas or where hunting is not allowed. Factors that enable greater ASF consumption include villages being
located near forested areas with wild animal populations, those that observe a large number of ceremonies of long duration,
households with a greater number of small livestock, and where women are able to make autonomous decisions about livestock
assets. Findings suggest that policies and programs designed to achieve sustainable improvements in household nutrition would
include a focus on women and improving the health and production of small livestock species frequently utilised by households.
Keywords Animal-source food
.
Undernutrition
.
Livestock
.
Timor-Leste
1 Introduction
Undernutrition is a major challenge in Timor-Leste, with one-
quarter of non-pregnant mothers (aged 14–60 years) being
underweight (BMI < 18.5 kg/m
2
), and one-eighth having short
stature (height < 145 cm) (MoH 2015). Poor maternal
nutrition pre- and post-conception leads to increased
chances of preterm birth, low birthweight at term
(birthweight <2500 g), neonatal mortality, child wasting
(when children are more than two standard deviations be-
low the World Health Organisation (WHO) Child Growth
Standards median for weight for length/height, WHZ), and
stunting, (when children are more than two standard devi-
ations below the WHO Child Growth Standards median
for length/height for age, HAZ) (ACC/SCN 2000;NSD
et al. 2010;WHO2008). In Timor-Leste, a nationally-
representative nutrition survey in 2013 reported that
wasting from acute undernutrition affects 11% of children
aged 0–59 months, while stunting from chronic undernu-
trition affects 50% of children aged 0–59 months
(Table 1), with 10% of infants already stunted by 5 months
(MoH 2015). Child stunting is significantly associated
with thinness of the mother if she is the primary carer
(MOH 2015). Although the prevalence of stunting has
decreased from 58% since the Demographic and Health
Survey (DHS) in 2009–2010 (NSD et al. 2010), it remains
unacceptably high given the long-term outcomes including
decreased cognitive ability, limited capacity for physical
* Johanna T. Wong
johanna.t.wong@sydney.edu.au
1
School of Life and Environmental Sciences and Charles Perkins
Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
2
Department of Anthropology, University of the Witwatersrand,
Johannesburg, South Africa
3
International Rural Poultry Centre, Kyeema Foundation,
Brisbane, Australia and Maputo, Mozambique
4
Dili, Timor-Leste
5
National Directorate of Veterinary and Livestock Services, Ministry
of Agriculture and Fisheries, Dili, Timor-Leste
6
School of Public Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2050,
Australia
Food Security (2018) 10:741–762
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-018-0804-5
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