World Vision has been providing intensive support to 650 malnourished under-five children in Rote Island in East Nusa Tenggara province, one of the poorest provinces in eastern Indonesia.

At least four Rote children have died from severe malnutrition over the last few weeks. Local health officials said about 1,500 under-fives in Rote are suffering from malnutrition, including 230 who are severely malnourished. They have alerted the provincial government about this emergency and asked for support.

The widespread malnutrition is the combined result of recent drought and food insecurity, lack of understanding on nutrition and limited capacity of health services.

Since last October, World Vision has responded to the malnutrition problem in Rote by providing supplementary food, such as rice, milk, egg, green bean and sugar. The support was intensified at the end of March by providing supplementary food and intensive care to the 650 children in 36 villages where World Vision has been working through the Rote Area Development Program.

"One of the families visited by World Vision recently had only two mugs of rice for nine children and both parents. One of the children in the family is acutely malnourished," says Irene Marbun, World Vision's Operational Manager for East Nusa Tenggara region. World Vision immediately distributed 20 kgs of rice, milk, oil, instant noodle and sugar as a first solution for the family.

World Vision has also provided training for local health workers and cadres to improve their skills and knowledge to care for malnourished children. On 31st March, World Vision conducted training in preparing food for malnourished children, targeting the health cadres of all 80 villages in Rote district. The training was facilitated by four nutrition experts from the health office.

"There are some root factors of the malnutrition problem in Rote. One of them is lack of food supply within the family as a result of their low income," says WV Indonesia Director Trihadi Saptoadi.

"Another factor is the incorrect feeding practice because of the community's lack of awareness on the importance of providing good nutrition for the children. Some parents are still not aware of how to provide nutritious food for their children," he adds.

The local culture also contributes to the health problem in the region, including the tradition of prioritizing the parents first, and extravagant cultural practices, such as the funeral ceremony tu'u and expensive dowry called belis.

World Vision continues to monitor the malnutrition problem in Rote to ensure the children quickly see improvement in their nutritional status.

"A good cooperation among stakeholders is needed to solve this malnutrition issue in Rote. We hope, through this supplementary feeding program, these affected children could recover soon," Trihadi says.

Mariana Ndun (25), a mother of 5-year old twins Ardo and Ardi, expressed her gratitude for World Vision's support.

"When we weighed them on March 29, they weighed only 10 kilos. After being assisted, when we weighed them again on April 8, Ardi has increased by one kilo and Ardo gained half a kilo," said Mariana.

Across the poor East Nusa Tenggara province, some 90,000 of about 500,000 children under five were registered as suffering from severe hunger and malnutrition (as recently reported by The Jakarta Post).

For media interview please contact

In Jakarta

Katarina Hardono Communications Director of World Vision Indonesia, Cell: 62-8111-838476 Office telephone: 62 -21-31927467 E-mail: katarina_hardono@wvi.org

or

Amelia Merrick WVI Operational Manager Cell: 62-811-1870296 Office telephone: 62 -21-31927467 E-mail: Amelia_Merrick@wvi.org