S

tunted growth in children is no longer simply an effect of their parents’ poor economic conditions but also due to the failure to provide exclusive breast-feeding during early development, a baby and child food (PMBA) and breast-feeding motivator claims.

Endang Sri Budiyani of Wedi, Klaten, Central Java, who has been educating people in her district for over 10 years on the importance of exclusive breast-feeding for babies up to 6 months old, said that an inability to provide breast-feeding was mostly a result of mothers working.

“Most working mothers prefer to give their babies factory-made milk because of their heavy workload,” said Endang, one of the 33 motivators in Wedi selected by UNICEF and the European Union (EU) in a pilot project of the field mission of Maternal and Young Child Nutrition Security Initiative in Asia (MYCNSIA).

In this case, according to Endang, economic factors could no longer be made the scapegoat for stunted growth in children. Poor nutrition during the development stage was also a factor.

Endang said that working mothers actually had the chance to provide their babies with exclusive breast-feeding by breast milking.

“However, it very much depends on the awareness of each of the mothers,” she said.

Endang’s remarks were echoed on Saturday by Widodo, a health practitioner in Wonogiri, Central Java, who said that exclusive breast-feeding in the first six months was badly needed to avoid stunted growth.

“Working mothers who are very busy and unable to provide exclusive breast-feeding can avoid stunting as long as they give their babies adequate nutrition. Lack of nutrition is the main culprit behind stunted growth,” Widodo said.

Apart from Wedi, two other districts in Klaten have also been selected as pilot projects for the program. They are Karangdowo and Gantiwarno districts.

EU project officer Edhie Rahmat said that some 29 percent of children in Klaten suffered from stunted growth.

“If we compare this to other regions we supervise, it’s relatively big,” Edhie said.

He referred to regions already supervised for the same program including Brebes in Central Java and Sika in East Nusa Tenggara.

Indonesia, according to Edhie, is one of five countries in Asia included in the implementation of MYCNSIA.

The other four countries are Nepal, Bangladesh, Laos and the Philippines. They were chosen for the awareness of their respective peoples of stunted growth.

“The selected regions hopefully will share what they have learned in dealing with stunting with other regions,” Edhie said.

He added that apart from the supervision received from the program, attention from the local administrations in the respective regions was also needed, especially in the provision of lactation rooms or corners in offices and other public places.

This is seen as important for the success of the program especially among working mothers.

Last year, 500 paramedics comprising midwives, nutritionists and volunteers from across Indonesia received supervision from UNICEF and EU. They were tasked with providing understanding to the people on the factors that could hamper a child’s growth, malnutrition and on what to do to effectively to take care of children.