Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Twenty-one children under the age of five have died from malnutrition in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) during the past six months of this year, more than double the figure recorded last year, according to a local health office.
"Poverty is the main cause of malnutrition," Taopan, head of food affairs at the provincial health office, said Wednesday.
"A lack of staple foods forces parents to feed their children food with no nutritional value. Because of the poor diet, children are susceptible to complications from various diseases."
He said his office was expecting to see an increase in the number of malnutrition cases in the coming months because of the combination of a harvest failure and limited budget allocation.
The provincial government allocated Rp 2 billion (about US$2.15 million) for dealing with malnutrition this year. Although it had requested Rp 57 billion from the central government, the latter allocated only Rp 2 billion.
The Kupang municipal and regency administrations are not able to increase their own budget allocations, which were approved by their respective legislatures earlier this year.
Taopan said the government had recorded a total of 512,400 malnourished toddlers in NTT, the country's least-developed province. Most are undergoing medical treatment at nutrition rehabilitation centers following the food crisis caused by the floods and landslides that ravaged farmland during the rainy season between September 2007 and February 2008.
"Currently, 112 toddlers are undergoing medical treatment for complications from malnutrition at several hospitals in the regencies of Southeast Sumba, Central Sumba, North Timor Tengah and Rote Ndao," he said.
Farmers in 137 subdistricts in several regencies are facing the threat of harvest failures because droughts and excessive rainfall have damaged their paddy plants.
Taopan said the children who died from malnutrition included those found in Kupang (seven), Rote Ndao (four) and South Timor Tengah (two).
Anticipatory measures to address the problem, such as educating parents, creating health campaigns and ensuring adequate medicine stocks, are required, he said.
The head of the local food resilience office, Petrus Langoday, said a food crisis was threatening the province, with many regencies suffering harvest failures due to flooding and droughts in the past six months.
To fight malnutrition, the provincial government is not only waiting for financial assistance from the central government, but is also working with regency administrations and NGOs, including churches, he said.