T

he US government, under the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), has disbursed US$22 million to Indonesia to help combat stunting and malnutrition.

The fund is part of the MCC'€™s $600 million five-year poverty reduction program, signed in late 2011 by the US and Indonesian government.

Through a scheme called the Millennium Challenge Account, Indonesia (MCA-I), the trustee institution to implement the compact, would be given $131.5 million to reduce stunting, with the rest of the money allocated to a green prosperity project, a procurement modernization project and targeted at gender activities.

'€œToday is very exciting for us because we'€™re announcing the first disbursement of $22 million for nutrition to combat stunting in Indonesia,'€ US Ambassador to Indonesia Scot Marciel said on Tuesday.

Marciel said the money would be distributed to local communities to purchase milk and other nutritious food, as well as to provide education on nutrition, so that mothers could better understand the types of foods they needed to eat and for their babies to be healthy.

'€œWe believe this program, as a part of partnership between our two countries, can help reduce the problem of stunting in Indonesia and contribute to Indonesia'€™s prosperity,'€ Marciel said.

As recently reported, 36 percent of children under the age of five in Indonesia suffer from stunted growth. The condition places the country on a par with much poorer countries in the region such as Myanmar and Cambodia, as stated by the World Bank in its report entitled '€œAdjusting to Pressure'€.

Nina Sardjunani, National Development Planning Agency deputy minister for human resources and cultural affairs, said nutrition investments could help break the cycle of poverty and increase a country'€™s gross domestic product (GDP) by at least 2 to 3 percent annually.

MCA-I nutrition project director Minarto said the project would start in 11 provinces: South Sumatra, West Java, East Java, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, Maluku, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, North Sulawesi, Gorontalo and West Sulawesi.

Minarto, former nutrition management director at the Health Ministry, said the prevalence of stunting was one criteria of province selection. Minarto said the project would begin in January next year and one of the plans was to finance the production of the food supplement, Taburia, a multiple micronutrient powder (MNP) for children aged 6-23 months.