Semarang – The long standing economic crisis in Indonesia since July 1997 has affected the lives of children nation wide, evidenced by the fact that around 10 million of them are suffering from malnutrition.

Unicef's Representative for Indonesia and Malaysia, Stephen J. Woodhouse, said here yesterday that it is a serious problem because malnutrition not only increases childrens' resistance to various diseases, but also results in reduced IQ levels.

"There are about 10 million children suffering malnutrition. This means that from 12,500 babies born everyday, 5,000 of those have the potential for lower IQ levels," Woodhouse stated, here in the Central Java capital of yesterday.

According to the Unicef official, from this total of babies born in Indonesia, 600 died from a a number of malnutrition related diseases.

He was speaking when he launched the Indonesia-Unicef partnership program to improve child nutrition, which also involves the Family Welfare Movement (PKK) and other non-governmental organizations in the country. The program will provide high nutritious level food for babies and children under 5 years old.

Woodhouse also commented that the integrated service for babies and mothers (Posyandu), which are available in every Indonesian villages, have a main role in helping improve the welfare of children and mothers, and their presence should be revitalized.

According to Woodhouse, as many as 40 under-five-year olds die in Central Java as a result of malnutrition and related diseases.