INDONESIAN CHILDREN DYING OF MALNUTRITION

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, March 9 (ANTARA) - Tens of below-five-year old children (Balitas) across the country had died of malnutrition in the past few months.

        At least 16 deaths were reported in West Java, East Java, Nusa Tenggara and South Sulawesi. Reports on the children's death, particularly in Makassar, South Sulwesi, raised concern among legislators.

        Members of the House of Representatives (DPR) and the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) have expressed concern over the reported death from starvation of a pregnant woman, Daeng Basse (35), and her five-year old son, Bahir (5) in Makassar, South Sulawesi.

        "This case is not merely the responsibility of the regional administration," a member of the Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-P) faction in the DPR, Alfridel Jinu, said.

        It is ironical that malnutrition is still a big problem in Indonesia, a country which was once declared self-sufficient in rice and received a crowning award from the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations in 1985.

        In Cianjur, for examaple, at least 2,670 under-five-year olds suffered from malnutrition in a district known to be a rice production hub in West Java.

        In Sumatra, Pekanbaru in Riau province in particular, a total of 166,167 balitas, or about 33.3 percent of the 499,000 balitas in the province were suffering from malnutrition, according to 'Media Indonesia' daily on Sunday.

        It also quoted a report by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) that at least 2.3 million balitas were suffering from malnutrition in 2006. This figure increased from 1.8 million in 2005.

        Besides, about 5 million others were suffering problems as a result of lack of nutritional intakes. About 10 percent of balitas who suffered from malnutrition died.

        Alfridel said the case must be given serious attention by the central government which was supposed to have a clear focus on poverty eradication. Similar concern was also expressed by DPD Vice Chairman Laode Ida.

        Laode Ida referred to the Makassar case saying that the death of the pregnant woman and her son was an alarming happening because it occurred amid the disclosure of bribery in the Bank Indonesia Liquidity Assistance (BLBI) issue.

        The woman and her son reportedly died of starvation but a provincial health service official denied the report and said they had perished because of dehydration after suffering from diarrhea.

        A more worrying case took place in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT). Ten balitas, including last year's case, had died of malnutrition. Two infants died recently.

        Two of the infants were residents of Kupang, and eight of Sikka District, Maxi Taopan of the NTT provincial health service said.

        Data from the NTT provincial health service showed that of the province's 497,577 infants, 81,873 suffered from malnutrition during 2007.

        The worst malnutrition cases were mostly found in Timor Tengah Utara (TTU), West Sumba, Rote Ndao, Timor Tengah Selatan (TTS), Sikka and Manggarai districts and Kupang city.

        In East Java's Trenggalek, malnutrition also took the life of a six month baby, Tasya. She died at Dr Soedono hospital last week. But head of Trenggalek's Health Service, Ubaidillah denied if Tasya died of malnutrition. He said the baby died of a lung trouble

        Three babies in Garut, West Java Province, had also been killed by malnutrition, a local official said. The malnourished infants suffered from diarrhea, respiratory problem and high fever, Ai Setiamah, head of the local health service's nutrition section, said.

        The fatalities, identified as Sandi (seven months old), Siti Komariah (16 months old) and Fitri (9 months old), died last September.

        Of the 242,589 babies in Garut District, 28,678 were malnourished, she said.

        In Sumatra, apart from Riau province, Jambi recorded a low case of malnutrition. Infant malnutrition cases in the province are one of the lowest in Indonesia, occupying third position nationally with 1.9 percent, Jambi deputy governor Antony Zeidra Abidin said.

        On the sidelines of delivering baby food to 50 poor families in Kelurahan of Legok, Jambi city, Antony said the government will continue monitoring the malnutrition cases.

        Head of the Jambi provincial health agency Dr Oscar Karim said that while there were still some cases of malnutrition in the area, the number continued to drop each year.

        In 2006, for instance, 319 people in the area were suffering from malnutrition, but in 2007 their number declined to 218.

        In the meantime, UNICEF warned the Indonesian government last month over its move to relax mandatory fortification of wheat flour which it said could put the health of Indonesian women and children at risk.

        Indonesia's ministry of industry abrogated a 2001 law on the mandatory fortification of flour traded in the country early this year in a bid to reduce the market price of flour.

        The flour fortification program in Indonesia was launched in the early 1980s and is today practiced in more than 50 nations. Iron, zinc, thiamine, riboflavin and folic acid are typically added.

        "Indonesia will miss an opportunity to protect high risk groups from micronutrient deficiencies which can lead to higher susceptability for morbidity and mortality, impaired mental and physical development as well as higher prevalence of neural tube defects at birth," UNICEF added. (A014/A/HNG/B003). (T.A014/A/A014/B003) 09-03-2008 22:11:10