2,400 Tangerang children suffer malnutrition

About 2,400 children under five years old in Tangerang regency, Banten, are suffering from malnutrition, the local health agency says.

Agency chief Naniek Isnaeni said she hopes this year the figure will drop to 2,160 children, around 0.97 percent of the 223,000 children under five in the regency.

Tangerang regency administration is currently working to reduce the number of children with malnutrition by improving the role of integrated service posts (Posyandu) in the regency, Naniek said Friday as quoted by Antara.

There are currently 2,131 posts in the regency’s 29 districts, with each post ideally serving 100 children under five. Based on these figures, Tangerang still needs another 100 integrated service posts, Naniek said.

One of the problems encountered in building integrated service posts was the refusal of housing developers to allocate land for the construction of public and social facilities, she added.