500,000 stunted kids below 5 is no joke, senator tells govt

 

Stunting and low body weight during children’s formative years will affect their brain development.

PETALING JAYA: About half a million children aged below five in Malaysia have been classified as stunted, a problem that should not exist in an advanced nation, according to a unity government senator.

Dr RA Lingeswaran said he was shocked when the health ministry told him in a written reply that there were 498,327 children in this condition, mostly due to their socio-economic situation.

Lingeswaran said this should not be happening in Malaysia.

Dr RA Lingeswaran.

“This represents 21% of that population group and is indeed worrying, especially in a country which is known for its good healthcare and abundance of food.

“I urge everyone to look at this issue seriously as we all know that stunting and low body weight during children’s formative years will affect their brain development. This will subsequently lead to a phenomenon known as education poverty,” he told FMT.

Education poverty is a process of limitation of children’s right to education and deprivation of their opportunities to learn and develop the skills they need to succeed in a rapidly changing society.

Lingeswaran, a former Sungai Bakap hospital director, said Pahang had the highest incidence of stunted children in this category with almost one out of two facing this problem.

According to the reply, this was followed by Kedah, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya (24.3% respectively), Sabah and Labuan (23.8%), and Melaka (22.9%).

“Even the three states which are the lowest on the list, namely Negeri Sembilan, Penang and Perak, have stunting incidence rates of 10% to 15%.

“This is something that all state authorities must look into and not just leave to the federal authorities,” he said.

Lingeswaran said among the causes listed by the ministry were poor diet among expectant mothers which leads to babies being born weighing below 2.5kg, and among those from poor families with couples who are unemployed or earning low incomes.

“Other reasons include feeding the babies with solid food too early and not ensuring that they are given nutritious food. They are also not given enough animal proteins that can help them with their growth,” he said.

The ministry said the problem of stunting was also caused by mothers who are below the height of 1.5m or fathers who are less than 1.6m tall.

Lingeswaran said there were various advocacy and food intervention programmes being carried out by the ministry to tackle this issue, but that more wholesome efforts by the federal and state authorities were needed to tackle the problem. - FMT