Fast-food preferences leave local children malnourished

Fast-food preferences leave local children malnourished

Barry Neild, Agence France-Presse, Jakarta

With its Gucci-filled shopping malls, Indonesia's capital shares
the emerging affluence of many other Asian cities, but while many
in Jakarta are now better off, new wealth has brought an
embarrassing and unusual side-effect: child malnutrition.

Indonesia is no stranger to starvation. The dark days of
economic mismanagement under President Sukarno in the 1950s and
60s saw many go hungry, while famine continues to resurface in
far-flung provinces prone to drought.

But in Jakarta, where a generous yearly budget of more than
1.45 billion dollars is regularly splashed on sprucing up
monuments to national pride, the revelation that thousands of the
city's children are underfed has drawn anger.

Jakarta's health agency reported last month that more than
8,000 infants under five were suffering from malnutrition,
prompting scathing reports in the local media about US$2.7
million lavished on a "Las Vegas-style" fountain.

"With music and choreographed laser beams, the project is
simply an embarrassment amid recent reports that 8,455 toddlers
in the city are suffering from chronic undernourishment," The
Jakarta Post said last month.

However, say experts, the fault lies not with Jakarta's free-
spending Governor Sutiyoso, but with the fact that people in the
city -- and across Asia -- are feeding their children with more
expensive but more unhealthy food.

Though particularly evident in Indonesia, it is a problem that
is being seen in many developing countries, where once frugal but
nutritious meals are being lost under an avalanche of fast and
greasy food as household incomes rise.

"In a good number of communities, even in a city such as
Jakarta where there is lots of food, malnutrition is a serious
problem," said Vanessa Dickey, a health specialist with the U.S.-
based aid organization Mercy Corps.

Dickey, who is working with authorities in Jakarta to remedy
the situation, says that in some areas of the city, up to 50
percent of children under five show signs of malnourishment --
indicated by slow growth rates.

The problem, she told AFP, is that with cash to spend, many
Indonesians eschew traditional healthy fare of rice and
vegetables in favor of fatty fried foods and sugary snacks that
satisfy hunger cravings but offer few nutrients.

"This leads to the situation where in some cases, you see an
overweight mother looking after a malnourished child," she said,
adding that in some cases the problem occurred in families that
were considered wealthy.

Dietary ignorance is the main culprit, says Dickey, with many
Indonesian parents using unhealthy snacks as pacifiers for unruly
children in between main meals, meaning that obesity can strike
just as easily as undernourishment.

"Our biggest foe is fast food," she said.

Rahmatullah, a Jakarta slum kid who measures six kilograms
short of the 14 kilograms considered normal for a 32-month-old
infant, is a textbook example of the cases Dickey and her
Indonesian colleagues are facing.

Still unable to stand or walk, Rahmatullah has just returned
home -- a shack in a fly-infested alley close to the city's Sunda
Kelapa port -- after several weeks in hospital, where he was
admitted weighing just five kilograms.

"He wouldn't eat the rice or porridge we gave him, but he
liked fried fish and candy," his 65-year-old father, Junaidi,
told AFP.

With eight children to look after since his wife died last
year, Junaidi admits spending part of his meager laborer's income
on snacks to keep his offspring quiet. The wrappers that litter
his doorway testify to their tastes.

"It hasn't been easy since my wife passed away. Because I'm
the only parent, I have to work, clean and cook, I find it
difficult to cope," he said, cradling Rahmatullah, dressed in a
grubby "Spongebob Squarepants" T-shirt, in his arms.

To prevent other children suffering the same fate, Mercy Corps
and local health workers are hoping to create better eating
habits, using a tried and trusted sociological trick known as
"positive deviance".

This examines the diet of the few families with healthy
children in otherwise malnourished communities -- in other words,
those who deviate from the normal trend with positive results --
and uses them as an example for others.

Parents and children take part in a two-week program in which
they are provided with three high calorie, high protein meals,
including tofu, coconut milk and inexpensive fish, and urged to
abandon snacks.

Says Dickey, although the program requires considerable
commitment from families taking part -- and has been rejected by
some -- it has so far been successful, possibly paving the way
for broader health awareness in Indonesia.

"It is very well received, communities latch onto it and enjoy
it. It's a catalyst for change."