Rich urged to help curb malnutrition
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)