RI children still malnourished: Unicef report

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia has done very well in promoting education, but many of its children are still malnourished, according to the latest Progress of Nations report issued by the United Nations International Children's Fund (Unicef).

"Eighty-six percent of Indonesian children have completed studies to at least the fifth grade of elementary level," Roger Shrimpton, the acting Unicef representative for Indonesia, said in briefing reporters about the report yesterday.

"This is 20 percent higher than the expected figure for a country with an annual income capita of US$730," he said.

However, malnutrition is still widespread among children; 40 percent of five-year-olds are under the normal weight, and 54 percent of under-five deaths were associated with malnutrition.

Shrimpton said the high maternal death rate of 450 per 100,000 births can also be attributed to the poor condition of women's nutrition and anemia, besides the often repeated blame placed on dukun bayi (traditional midwives), in child bearing services.

One of the programs Unicef is currently involved in with the government is in training midwives and dukun bayi in efforts to reduce the maternal death rate.

Halving both the maternal death rate and deaths due to malnutrition among under-fives, by the year 2000, are among the goals that participating governments, including Indonesia, agreed to in the 1990 World Summit for Children.

In cross-country comparison, Unicef places Indonesia along with Thailand and Vietnam among countries which have virtually eliminated severe vitamin A deficiency. However, this deficiency, which can lead to blindness and even death, still "exists as a public health problem" here, the report noted.

Indonesia has also progressed in its immunization coverage of currently 90 percent of children, as well as in its fight against measles, Shrimpton said.

But he pointed out that another challenge to Indonesia is iodine deficiency, "as we estimate that a quarter, to a half, of children here live in areas with a high risk of iodine deficiency."

As it did last year, Unicef has urged the government to immediately implement its large scale plans to add iodine to edible salt as a protection to iodine-deficiency, which causes mental retardation.

Shrimpton also said sanitation facilities for households remain a problem, despite access to clean water for 62 percent of the population as of 1993.

"Conditions have even declined," he said, adding that the base for this evaluation is the last national social and economic census. He acknowledged that the newly launched "Clean Friday Movement", by the Ministry of Health, is a step in correcting this condition.

Shrimpton stressed that Indonesia must increasingly rely on its own resources to make necessary improvements because aid from developed countries has declined.

A recent report released by non-governmental organizations from 21 countries also noted a decline in aid, from 0.33 percent in 1992, to 0.30 percent of the gross national product of developed countries in 1993, the lowest level for 20 years.

In 1993, aid to the developing world fell by US$5 billion, the report said, despite an agreed target of 0.7 percent from a developed country's gross national product.

"Many countries are only giving 0.3 percent, this shows the disturbing tendency for the level of aid to decline," Shrimpton said.

"This is due to aid fatigue," program coordinator Daradjat Natanagara said. Governments of developed countries "see no end" to problems in developing nations, he added.

To assist Indonesia in its sixth five-year development plan, Unicef has committed $144 million.

Daradjat said $74 million will be from the organization's general resources, while another $70 million is expected from donors. (anr)