Life is Healthy

Antara News, Saturday, May 22, 2010 17:59 WIB

Bangkalan, E Java (ANTARA News) - Anameli, a toddler in Bangkalan district on Maudura Island, East Java, has been found to be suffering from extreme malnourishment and in need of immediate hospitalization, a health worker said.

The two-year-old infant from Tengginan hamlet, Pataterongan village, Galis sub-district, Bangkalan district, was very thin, having a body weight of only 6.5 kilograms, Nur Aini said.

Speaking to newsmen here Saturday, Nur Aini of Syarifah Ambami Rato Ebu General Hospital said the ill-fated infant`s weight was only half that of a normal two-year old.

She said the weight of a normal two-year-old child was 12 kilograms.

When taken to the hospital, Anameli`s temperature was "high", and she often vomited and suffered from diarrhea, Nur Aini said.

The doctor`s diagnosis showed that the toddler was malnourished because her weight was only around six kilograms, she said.

The parents` carelessness might have contributed to Anameli`s malnourishment, she said.

However, referring to the case of seven-year-old Puji Astuti, daughter of Suryadi, 26, and Liah, 26, in West Java district of Bekasi, poverty had mainly contributed to Astuti`s malnourishment.

Due to her parents` poverty, Puji Astuti had been malnourished since eight months ago.

The daughter of residents of Jati Mulya village, Tambun Selatan sub-district, Bekasi district, West Java, only had a body weight of 10 kilograms.

Anameli and Puji Astuti are just two of millions of malnourished children in Indonesia.

According to World Vision Indonesia, a non-governmental organization which plays an active role in fighting malnutrition, more than five million Indonesian children are malnourished.

It said the malnutrition was an "iceberg phenomenon" in which the number of minor, moderate, and serious malnourished children is often far higher than those seen on television.

East Java is one of the Indonesian provinces, which remains vulnerable to the malnourishment cases.

The East Java province`s health authorities recently confirmed that 125 toddlers in Pacitan district were malnourished.

"The body weight of malnourished infants is lower than that of healthy ones`," Head of Pacitan district`s health office Wawan Kasiyanto said.

Since 2009, the Pacitan health workers had found that 1,221 infants had decreasing weights and 125 were identified as malnourished.

The normal growth of malnourished babies could be hampered so that they need extra-food packages containing sufficient vitamins and minerals, and medicines to strengthen their immunity system, he said.