Unicef to help govt provide baby food

JAKARTA (JP): The United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) here yesterday to provide funds for the procurement of fortified complementary food for 70,000 infants in Java.

The MOU was signed by Unicef representative for Indonesia and Malaysia Stephen Woodhouse and Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare and Poverty Eradication Haryono Suyono.

About 432,000 500-gram sachets of fortified complementary food will be made available through family planning centers at a "low" cost of Rp 500 (7 U.S. cents) for each sachet.

Unicef said the sachets should be enough for about 70,000 infants for a one-month period in nine of the "hardest hit" districts in West, Central and East Java.

The target areas identified are: Tangerang, Bekasi and Bogor in West Java, Pekalongan, Semarang and Tegal in Central Java and Pasuruan, Sidoardjo and Gresik in East Java.

Local company PT Indofood will produce the fortified complementary food, a beras merah (red rice) formula, at a subsidized price for Unicef.

"Even before the current economic crisis, 37 percent of Indonesian children were underweight. Half suffer micronutrient deficiencies of iron, zinc and vitamin A, causing poor growth and increased frequency and severity of common deficiencies," Unicef said in a statement.

The international agency added that high levels of malnutrition cause 140,000 child deaths a year in Indonesia.

It is hoped that with further aid this program will be extended to cover East and West Nusa Tenggara, East Timor and South Sulawesi. (mds)