Millions of pregnant women suffer from malnutrition

Millions of pregnant women suffer from malnutrition

BOGOR, West Java (JP): Millions of pregnant women and babies
in Indonesia are suffering from malnutrition, a scientist said
here Saturday.

Hidayat Syarief, in an speech marking his inauguration as a
professor at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture said as many as
51 percent of expecting mothers in Indonesia were poorly
nourished.

"This is a problem that needs serious handling so that
negative impacts on babies can be prevented," he said.

Quoting the 1997 United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef)
report, Hidayat said 14 percent of infants were born with low-
birth-weight, while Indonesia's infant mortality rate is 55 per
1,000 births.

He estimated 6.7 million children under five years old
suffered from protein deficiency, while 7 million were
malnourished.

"The high prevalence of malnutrition among pregnant women and
under-five-year-old children cannot be separated from families'
poor ability to buy nutritious food in addition to poor hygiene
that causes children to be easily infected by diseases," he said.

Hidayat called on the government to make an effort to
guarantee that every family could afford to buy nutritious food.

Still quoting Unicef, Hidayat said more Indonesian children
were malnourished and in poorer health than in the Philippines,
Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore.

Fourteen percent of Indonesia babies were born underweight
compared to 8 percent in Malaysia.

Indonesia needed to make a "strategic effort" to improve the
nutritional, health and educational condition of its children, he
said.

He cited several projects the government had undertaken to
improve children's health and nutrition, including by the
supplementary food program in elementary schools and launching
the antipolio immunization program for all children under the age
of five years.

Last Tuesday, the government launched the final round of the
drive aimed at immunizing nearly 22 million children.

The current three-day campaign is the first of two phases of
the third and final round of the national drive; the first and
second round were in 1995 and 1996 respectively.

The second phase will start Oct. 7.

Two hundred and eighty-six thousand immunization posts have
been set up in public places like health centers, bus stations,
and kindergartens. (24/05)