Women, children malnourished, Unicef reports<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian women and children's health is still
\npoor, despite rapid economic progress over the past several
\nyears, a report reveals.<\/p>\n
A summary of The Situation Analysis of Children and Women in
\nIndonesia l995, a special report prepared jointly by the
\nIndonesian government and the United Nations Children's Fund
\n(Unicef), disclosed that maternal mortality rates (MMR) here
\nremains very high compared to other Asian countries.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's MMR only dropped slightly, from 450 per 100,000
\nlive births in l986 to 425 in l992.<\/p>\n
The current trend suggests that it will be very difficult for
\nIndonesia to reduce the rate to 225 by l998. The Infant Mortality
\nrate (IMR) and Under-5 Mortality Rate (U5MR), however, is
\ndeclining rapidly.<\/p>\n
Between l967 and l993, the IMR decreased from 145 to 58 per
\n1,000 live births and U5MR from 218 to 78 per 1,000 live births.
\nHowever, this still puts Indonesia behind other Asian countries
\nsuch as China, Thailand, and the Philippines, the report reveals.<\/p>\n
Roger Shrimpton, a senior program coordinator at Unicef, said
\nat a discussion yesterday that many Indonesian women and
\nchildren, particularly those living in remote regions, do not
\nhave adequate access to medical services. He said that only a
\nlimited number of community-based health facilities, such as
\nmaternal and child health clinics, are available in the villages.<\/p>\n
\"Indonesia really faces a serious problem if women and
\nchildren's health remains this poor, because the majority of its
\nl89 million citizens are women and children,\" Shrimpton warned.<\/p>\n
Lack of health care facilities, he said, is caused by the
\nlimited budget allocation for both public and health care. In
\nl989-l993, the government only spent 2.8 percent of the country's
\nGDP on health, roughly half of that spent in other countries with
\ncomparable per capita incomes.<\/p>\n
Budget<\/p>\n
According to the report, the government also increased the
\nbudget for \"Women in Development\" programs from Rp 21,722 million
\nin l982\/l983 to Rp 64,388 million in l992\/l993.<\/p>\n
Almost 90 percent of the total amount went to the Family
\nWelfare Movement (PKK), which works specifically with the poor in
\nvillage development.<\/p>\n
Despite these facts, the report says, Indonesian women and
\nchildren still face serious nutrition problems. Malnutrition is
\nthe cause of 60 percent of all deaths in the under-five age
\nbracket.<\/p>\n
Although food energy intake per capita is generally high
\n(around 2100 kcal), 63.5 percent of the country's females still
\nsuffer from anemia due to bad diet. In addition, more than a
\nquarter of all children and pregnant women suffer from a lack of
\niodine, the report says.<\/p>\n
A large number of malnourished pregnant women will give birth
\nto underweight babies.<\/p>\n
Around 4.5 million babies are born a year, and the incidence
\nof underweight babies is estimated at 15 percent. However, only
\n37 percent of children are actually weighed at birth.<\/p>\n
The number of children defined as moderately and severely
\nunderweight in l993 remained high at 40 percent, the highest
\nfigure among ASEAN countries, the report says.<\/p>\n
Abdullah Cholil, Assistant to State Minister for Women's
\nRoles, argued that the health of women and children was a serious
\nissue for the nation.<\/p>\n
\"This is not a problem of the ministry of health or other
\ninstitutions alone. This is our problem. We are all responsible
\nfor improving their welfare,\" Cholil said. (raw)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/women-children-malnourished-unicef-reports-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}