32 children die and 675 others suffering over malnutrition

32 children die and 675 others suffering over malnutrition
Panca Nugraha and Yemris Fointuna , The Jakarta Post , Mataram, Kupang | Sat, 11/14/2009 4:00 PM | The Archipelago


Thirty-two children under 5 years have died from malnutrition and at least 675 children are reported to be malnourished in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) province this year an official says.

Speaking to The Jakarta Post in Mataram on Friday, NTB Health Agency Secretary Rohmi Khoiriyati said 262 of the malnourished children were still receiving medical treatment at community health centers or hospitals across the province.

"The rest have recovered," she said.

Rohmi added the local administrations were paying for medical treatment for the children, including Rp 40,000 (US$4) compensation per day for the patients' families to stay with their children at the Puskesmas or hospitals.

Malnutrition cases, she said, were found in the province's eight regencies and two cities, with East Lombok, West Lombok and Central Lombok the worst-hit regencies.

Rohmi added there were about 5,000 malnutrition cases in 2005. The figure fell to 3,000 the following year and 1,800 in 2007. Last year there were 1,200 cases of malnutrition, claiming 45 lives.

Rohmi said malnutrition in the province was being tackled through a number of health programs.

Other programs include revitalizing the integrated health service posts (Posyandu) in the province's 911 subdistricts and providing food.

NTB Health Agency community health supervision division chief Nina Yulaida said her office was also prepared to implement the nutrition improvement through community empowerment (NICE) program and had been training a number of facilitators to operate the program.

"These facilitators will be sent back to their regions to set up a community nutrition group *KGM* that will later incorporate nutrition improvement programs according to the needs of their respective communities," Nina said.

She added the facilitators came from the four regions of Lombok Island: Mataram, West Lombok regency, Central Lombok regency and East Lombok regency.

Nina said the NICE program would provide each of the KGMs proposals that were approved by the Health Ministry and Rp 150 million (US$16,000) for three years.

NICE is a national program held in 24 regencies and municipalities from the six provinces that have been selected by the Health Ministry based on the prevalence of malnutrition.

The other five provinces include North Sumatra, South Sumatra, East Nusa Tenggara, West Kalimantan and South Sulawesi.

Separately in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, consumer goods company PT Unilever Indonesia Tbk has helped revitalize 250 health posts in the region in its bid to help improve children's health.

The company helped revitalize the health posts by providing tools and equipment worth Rp 270 million that are needed to help create healthier communities.

The company's human resources director Joseph Bataona officially handed over the 250 aid packages to Kupang Regent Ayub Titu Eki in Kupang on Friday.

Regent Ayub said his administration had limited resources to deal with problems in the community, including malnutrition.

"We don't have the funds in our regency budget to deal with malnutrition," he said.

"Our original income is quite small and it cannot cover everyone's needs."

As of October this year more than 7,000 cases of malnutrition were reported across East Nusa Tenggara province, 10 of them fatal.

Kupang, East Sumba, East Flores and North Timor Tengah have been reported to be the worst-hit regions.