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Maternal mortality remains a significant public health challenge for Timor-Leste. Although access to quality family planning measures may greatly reduce such deaths, consideration of indigenous perceptions, and how they influence reproductive health decision-making and behavior, is crucial if health services are to provide initiatives that are accepted and helpful in improving reproductive health outcomes. We aimed to demonstrate that body mapping is an effective method to traverse language and culture to gain emic insights and indigenous worldviews. The authors' two qualitative research projects (2013 and 2015) used a decolonizing methodology in four districts of Timor-Leste, body mapping with 67 men and 40 women to illuminate ethno-physiology and indigenous beliefs about conception, reproduction, and contraception. Body mapping provided a beneficial conduit for identifying established indigenous reproductive perceptions, understandings, and vocabulary, plus fears surrounding contraception. This may inform health service provision and engagement, ultimately improving the reproductive health of community members.

Timor-Leste's Maternal Mortality Ratio remains one of the highest in Asia. There is ample evidence that maternal deaths may be reduced substantially through the provision of good-quality modern methods of contraception. Many Timorese women wish to stop or delay having children. However, even when health services make contraception available, it does not mean that people will use it. Collaborating with Marie Stopes Timor-Leste, this qualitative research project used decolonising methodology to explore perceived influences contributing to contraceptive choices, and gain insight into how women's decisions to access contraception in Timor-Leste occur. Over two fieldwork periods (2013 and 2015), we used focus group discussions and structured interviews to speak with 68 women and 80 men, aged 18-49 years, across four districts of Timor-Leste. Findings demonstrate that the decision to access contraception is often contentious and complicated. These tensions echo concerns and ambiguities contained within global and national reproductive health policy. Overwhelmingly, participants emphasised that despite her wishes, a woman can only rarely exercise her right to access contraception freely and independently. She is most often constrained by family, cultural, traditional and educational influences.

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Understanding and respecting different linguistic and socio-cultural needs of health service users is critical to design, adapt and provide appropriate health services. We explored access to male family planning methods in The Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, a linguistically and culturally diverse nation, by conducting 14 participatory group discussions (PGDs) with 175 participants across seven municipalities. Participants (84 men and 91 women, aged 18 to 72) spoke 13 different languages. PGDs were audio-recorded and translated to English using a multilingual panel translation approach that enabled rigorous and reflexive discussion and learning between researchers about context and meaning. Planning for language diversity helped us to centre participant voices and to hear perspectives that may have otherwise been excluded or misrepresented. Our study affirms the need for research teams to include diverse members who help ensure meaning and voice is not lost across cultural and linguistic differences. Linguistic respect, inclusion and transparency are required to realise improved health and development outcomes.