IPB boosts diet of its malnourished students
Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Bogor
Media reports on dietary deficiencies have focused on infants and elementary students from low-income families.
The Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB), however, introduced a program in 2001 to improve the quality of its students' diets as it was suspected that many new arrivals to the school were undernourished.
This academic year there are 68 students with acute anemia, said the head of the university's medical center, Sri Budiarti.
"The fact that there are 68 students with anemia and dozens of others with infectious diseases means that undernourishment and poor sanitation are a major problem in many regions of the country," she said on Monday.
She added that many freshmen had chicken pox or suffered skin and respiratory infection diseases, while 66 students this year had a condition called proteinuria, a kidney malfunction caused by the poor quality of drinking water in their homes.
This year, the IPB received some 2,868 students from all over the country, including one Japanese student, two Malaysians and one student from Timor Leste.
"The foreign students have perfect health," Sri said.
All new students are housed in dormitories for one year and required to undergo a thorough medical check up.
Students with anemia receive additional food and vitamins, while students with respiratory infections are quarantined in the dormitory for two months before being allowed to join classes.
"We are not only curing them from the diseases but we're teaching them how to take care of themselves and to change their lifestyle and diet as well to improve the sanitation of their homes," Sri said.
According to rector Ahmad Amsori Matjik, 40 percent of 13,000 IPB students come from middle- to lower-income families.
"We cannot ignore their health condition ... only high achievers at school can enter the university," he said.
The university allocates Rp 2 billion per year for the medical center to provide the free health programs for the students.