El Niño Godzilla could raise stunting risk by up to 25 percent

Jakarta (ANTARA) – Chairman of the Environmental Health and Climate Change Task Force of the Indonesian Pediatric Association (IDAI) Dr. Darmawan Budi Setyanto, Sp.A, Subsp.Respi(K), said the El Niño ‘Godzilla’ phenomenon has the potential to increase the risk of stunting and malnutrition in children due to prolonged drought and disruption of food security.

“The prevalence of stunting in 2022 according to Riskesdas (Basic Health Research) was 21.6 percent and increases with this El Niño to as much as 15-25 percent,” said Darmawan in an online seminar on the impact of El Niño on child health, on Tuesday.

He explained that El Niño leads to an extreme dry season which affects crop yields and rising food prices. The condition is seen to reduce people’s access to nutritious foods, especially for children.

According to Darmawan, children are the most vulnerable group to climate change because their immune systems and ability to regulate body temperature are not yet mature.

“Children lose fluids more rapidly per kilogram of body weight than adults,” he said.

Darmawan said prolonged drought can degrade sanitation quality and contaminate sources of clean water, thereby increasing the risk of waterborne diseases.

“In Indonesia, as in many other developing countries, diarrhoea is one of the two leading causes of death in under-fives along with pneumonia,” he said.

“In children under 5, the lungs are still developing, more vulnerable to permanent damage,” he said.

Darmawan urged the government to strengthen mitigation of El Niño’s impact through robust health services, food security, access to clean water, and preparedness systems to handle surges in child disease cases.