3,000 under-fives suffering from malnutrition in Jakarta

JAKARTA (JP): At least 3,000 cases of malnutrition in children under five years old in the city have been detected during the current economic crisis, which first hit the country in 1997, an official said on Monday.

The head of community health development of the city health agency, M. Husni Thamrin, said that at least 58 of the malnourished children were presently in the hospital due to complications resulting from lack of food.

However, he said, so far there had been reports of children suffering from marasmus kwashiorkor -- a condition of chronic and acute undernourishment usually caused by a diet deficient in calories and proteins.

"I think the number of malnutrition cases will continue to increase if the (economic) condition doesn't show any signs of abating as a drop in people's purchasing power will prevent an increasing number of families from buying proper nutrition for their children," he said.

Thamrin also said the actual figure of malnourished children could be much higher because the figure was obtained last December.

By comparison, Thamrin said, at present there are about 500,000 to 600,000 children under five years old in the city.

Undernourishment, he said, became significantly visible about six months after the crisis began in July 1997. "Maybe at that time more families were forced to reduce their food intake, thereby having a big impact on children under five years old," he said.

He said children suffering from malnutrition could usually be recognized by their thin bodies in which "their weight is usually 60 percent less than the normal weight".

He explained that malnourished children were found in each of the city's five mayoralties.

Meanwhile, data for Central, East and North Jakarta alone show that the number of undernourished children recorded as of January already reached 3,432.

Out of the 3,432 undernourished children, 1,441 were found in Central Jakarta with 854 of them being in poor condition, another 1,191 in East Jakarta and 800 in North Jakarta.

Data from South and West Jakarta were not available on Monday.

Thamrin said the city administration would allocate Rp 100 million from its 1999/2000 budget to help undernourished children by providing food supplements in the form of blended food, including "staple foods with vitamins and soybean".

"We feel the allocation is too little even though it is an increase from Rp 40 million to Rp 50 million in the current budget, where each child gets Rp 750 per day for about 90 days.

"I know that everyone will say that it is not enough, but what else can we say?" he said.

The food supplement program, which started in October last year, has been channeled through 43 public health centers, each of which has had 10 children placed under their care.

He admitted that the food supplement program would not help much if their families still had difficulty purchasing enough food for their children. (ind)