Different approaches needed to cope with malnutrition<\/p>\n
Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
A researcher has called on the government to get malnutrition
\nunder control using an urban-rural approach with toddlers from
\npoor families areas across the country, as the most recent data
\nshowed that more than one-fourth of the nation's youngsters are
\nnot getting enough to eat.<\/p>\n
\"Malnutrition in urban areas is mainly a result of poverty,
\nwhile in rural areas the lack of health services and knowledge is
\nthe main cause,\" Saptawati Bardosono said while presenting her
\nthesis to obtain a doctorate degree on nutrition at the
\nUniversity of Indonesia here on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Saptawati conducted extensive research on poor families in
\nNorth and East Jakarta, where most of the 1,700 children she
\nexamined below five-years-old were underweight and malnourished
\nbecause their families could not provide adequate food for them.<\/p>\n
She also visited poor villages in the Central Sulawesi town of
\nBanggai, and the East Nusa Tenggara islands of Alor and Rote,
\nwhere she found toddlers whose height was well below normal
\nstandards and who suffered from anemia, a vitamin and mineral
\ndeficiency which stunts physical and mental development.<\/p>\n
She suggested that in places like Jakarta, where health
\nservices and information were adequate, the government provide
\nmore labor-based jobs to ensure that poor people could earn
\nenough money to buy food.<\/p>\n
In rural areas, food is relatively easy to get, but health
\nservices and information about nutrition are not, she said.<\/p>\n
\"I went to Papua last year and found that health services
\nthere were 20 years behind the rest of Indonesia,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Malnourished children have a lower resistance to infection,
\nmaking them vulnerable to common childhood ailments like gastric
\ndiseases and respiratory infections, which could cost them their
\nlives.<\/p>\n
Those who survive will frequently be ill and their physical
\nand mental growth are irreversibly hampered.<\/p>\n
According to data as of December 2002, more than 25 percent of
\nIndonesia's 18 million children aged below five are suffering
\nfrom malnutrition.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/different-approaches-needed-to-cope-with-malnutrition-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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