East Timor Appeal

Help Humpty save lives in Timor

Latest News – December 2009

Christmas will come early in East Timor thanks to Humpty with a load of medical equipment being delivered to both Dr Dan Murphy’s Bairo Pite Clinic and the Dili National Hospital this month.

Equipment sent includes pulse oximeters, oxygen analyzers and a fridge to keep medicines cold in the extreme tropical heat. All these items will help save the lives of sick Timorese children.

As the New Year approaches, Humpty is presently setting its goals for 2010 in East Timor. Stay tuned for all the news on how you can help.

How It All Began

Humpty’s association with East Timor fulfils a promise Humpty made to former first lady Kirsty Sword Gusmao back in 2005 to help the children of the Asia Pacific’s poorest nation.

While the foundation’s primary focus is to raise funds to purchase life-saving medical equipment for hospitals here in Australia, it is committed to providing support to our ailing neighbours.

Medical services in the island nation are so dire 90 out of every 1000 babies will die before they reach their first birthday.

Who Are We Helping?

Bairo Pite Clinic – A medical clinic run by American health advocate Dr Dan Murphy. More than 300 people are treated at the clinic each day – half of these are women and children. Conditions at the clinic are third world. Most common diseases include: malaria, dengue fever and malnutrition.

Dili National Hospital – Headed by Dr Verna Martins, the pediatric department treats more than 600 patients a year. Beds line the hospital corridors and rooms are overcrowded. Treatment is limited by accessibility to medical equipment and services. Many children die from diseases which are easily treated in the western world.

Shocking Statistic

The standard of health of the East Timorese is very low – there is a vicious cycle of poverty, malnutrition and disease.

Infant mortality is the highest in the world with 160 deaths per 1000 births.

Illness is so prevalent 90 out of every 1000 babies born will die before they reach their first birthday.

At least 70 per cent of children under five are malnourished.

The most prevalent are tuberculosis, endemic malaria, pneumonia, parasitic infestations, skin infections and severe anaemia, especially in women after childbirth and children.

Investigation Trip – November 2007

Humpty chairman Paul Francis led a team of five specialist medicos to East Timor with one mission in mind – to help the nation’s poverty stricken children.

The team comprised: Dr Ralph Hanson (The Children’s Hospital, Westmead), Dr Richard Lennon (Royal North Shore Hospital), Paul Hunstead, Jennifer Mirto, Margaret Bresnahan (Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick).

What did they find? Doctors working in squalor who face monumental daily challenges with inadequate medical equipment. A dire shortage of medicine. Children dying, who could be saved. No access for people in remote communities to health care.

A Wish List of items was put together to help save lives.

Fulfilling A Promise – March 2009

Chairman Paul Francis and Dr Ralph Hanson (The Children’s Hospital at Westmead) followed through with the foundation’s promise of delivering life-saving medical equipment to the struggling pacific nation.

Top of Humpty’s gift list was a four-wheel drive ambulance for the Bairo Pite Clinic, along with other essential medical supplies including AIDS tests, antibiotics and refrigeration.

Patients, staff and Dr Murphy himself clapped and cheered when the ambulance, worth more than $60,000, arrived at the clinic at the end of March - and in less than 24 hours it was out on the road saving lives.

Equipment which ranged from basic nursing aids such as clocks to hi-tech phototherapy lights to treat jaundice newborns was donated to the children’s ward of the Dili National Hospital.

A Message From Humpty

Paul Francis is committed to the East Timor effort:

“Enough is enough. We have a human duty to help the children of Timor and we must commit to making a difference. We can’t sit back and witness this any longer – for us to help and make a difference is very achievable.”

How Can You Help?

No donation is too small or too big. Please purchase something from the Wish List or to donate call the Humpty Dumpty Foundation on (02) 9439 0511.