Minister visits, offers help to malnourished children

Luh Putu Trisna Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara

Minister of Health Siti Fadilah Supari visited disadvantaged people in Mataram on Saturday to see for herself the extent of malnutrition among children.

Bringing with her one ton of food supplements for children aged below five and promising Rp 150 billion (US$15.9 million) to battle malnutrition across the country, the minister said the local government shared the blame for the situation.

"Central government funds allocated for the provincial government should have been used to improve nutrition for children under five. I appeal to the local government not to spend too much on equipment but to pay more attention to people's health and education," Siti said.

The government declared on Wednesday the incidence of malnutrition extraordinary after eight children below the age of five died. As of Saturday, the local health agency reported 359 malnourished children across West Nusa Tenggara, mostly in West and East Lombok regencies.

The children are being treated at local hospitals.

At Mataram Hospital, Siti visited Muhamad Azmi, 13 months, from Lingsar village, Nurul Janah, 10 months, from Karang Pule village and Ridhorin Kaka, 11 months, who were also being treated for tuberculosis as a result of malnutrition.

Upon hearing the story of Slamet, a four-year-old resident of Karang Pule whose advanced malnutrition has led to partial blindness, the minister asked Mataram Mayor M. Rifai to take care of the boy.

Slamet is an orphan who lives with his grandfather, who works for a farmer and lives in a modest house with a stable.

Siti expressed surprise that malnourished children were found in West Nusa Tenggara, one of the country's rice belts.

However, the province's success in supplying rice for many parts of the country is not in tandem with its people's welfare as around one-quarter of its four million population are classified as poor.

Head of the provincial health agency Baiq Magdalena said data revealed that only half of 500,000 children below five were regularly taken by their parents to community health centers for medical checks and food supplements.

"Up to 50 percent of children who skip regular free health checks are prone to malnutrition," Magdalena said.

Upon hearing Magdalena's explanation, Siti asked all family welfare workers to visit poor families and encourage them to take their children to health centers.

There are seven state hospitals, 129 community health centers, 443 village health centers and 448 village polyclinics across the province.

Malnutrition affects 8 percent of the country's children every year, with causes ranging from crop failure to poor knowledge about nutrition.