Rich urged to help curb malnutrition

JAKARTA (JP): The country's well-off are expected to make a concerted effort to help the some 1.3 million children across the archipelago suffering from malnutrition.

Suharman Noerman, chairman of the internationally affiliated non-governmental organization Youth Ending Hunger Indonesia (YEH- Indonesia), said the "haves" could start in their local areas.

"In every poor community, there must be one or two families who are better off. Many may have wanted to help, but could not find an appropriate way to channel their aid," Suharman said on the sidelines of a three-day national youth conference here.

The youths in YEH-Indonesia could be "entrusted" to channel the aid to needy members of society, Suharman, who once worked as a United Nations volunteer against hunger in India from 1991 to 1993, said.

Besides organizing the national conference which closed on Saturday, the youths in YEH-Indonesia -- some 150 of them -- will organize conferences at the provincial and regency levels to garner support from youths in the local communities.

Students from some 33 universities in Greater Jakarta participated in YEH-Indonesia's first national conference.

Featured at the conference -- in which participants were encouraged to formulate plans of action to help the people in their respective areas -- were former finance minister Mar'ie Muhammad and United Nations Children Fund representative Stephen J. Woodhouse, among others.

Also attending the conference were representatives from seven neighboring Asian countries.

In the conference's opening speech on Thursday, Muhammad Prakosa from the Food and Agricultural Organization said that young people between the ages of 15 and 24 -- numbering more than one billion worldwide -- could help reduce, and perhaps eliminate, hunger and malnutrition.

"Eighty-five percent of these youths live in developing countries, with 60 percent in Asia. With adequate training, support and access to resources and services, these young men and women can become innovative and productive partners to achieve national food security goals," he said. (aan)