D

espite abundant fish stocks, a major source of protein, children in many fish-rich regions still suffer from malnutrition.

Data from the Health Ministry shows that fish-rich regions, such as East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) and Maluku, have some of the country'€™s highest rates of stunted growth.

NTT, for example, has a stunting rate of 48 percent, meaning that 48 percent of children in the region suffer from stunted growth.

'€œNTT has a lot of fish, as does Maluku. So why is the stunting rate high when [they have access to] fish, which contains a lot of protein?'€ The Health Ministry'€™s mother and child nutrition development director, Dodi Irwandi, said on Friday.

Besides protein, fish is rich in Omega 3, a substance proven effective at strengthening an infant'€™s immune system and encouraging healthy growth.

Despite fish'€™s high nutrition value, Millenium Challenge Account (MCA) health and nutrition project specialist Minarto said that Indonesians were often unaware and uninformed of its nutritiousness.

'€œActually, the stunting rate is high in regions with a lot of poverty. With high levels of poverty, the education level is low,'€ he told The Jakarta Post.

Dodi, meanwhile, said that most people in poor, fish-rich regions tended to sell fish rather than consume them.

'€œThat is why we provide education on nutrition, telling them not to sell [fish before consuming some],'€ he said.

While advocating for higher fish-consumption rates would help spread nutritional awareness, there is a more effective method, according to Minarto.

'€œThe shortcut is to educate people so that they use what they already have. That'€™s what we'€™re trying to do by using health officers,'€ he said. '€œThere are also many rich people who suffer from stunted growth, which is proof that there are factors aside from economic factors [leading to malnutrition], namely knowledge.'€

To encourage people to eat more fish, the Health Ministry is teaming up with the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry during the 55th National Nutrition Day that falls on Sunday, Jan. 25.

Data from the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry shows that Indonesia consumes just 91.7 grams of animal protein per person, far below the minimum recommended level of 150 grams.

As of 2013, there were as many as 8.81 million children suffering from malnutrition and a stunting rate of 37.2 percent.

While the figure is alarmingly high '€” higher than the stunting rate in Myanmar (35 percent), Vietnam (23 percent) and Thailand (16 percent) '€” a recent survey from the MCA reveals an even more worrisome problem.

The survey questioned 3,150 respondents from September to October 2014, comprising 2,100 mothers with children under two years old and 1,050 pregnant women in the 10 provinces of South Sumatra, West Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, West Java, East Java, West Nusa Tenggara, Gorontalo, West Sulawesi, Maluku and North Sulawesi.

'€œThe research aims to get information on key factors related to lifestyle, including sanitation and hygiene practices such as [access to] clean water,'€ Minarto said.

The study revealed problematic parenting habits responsible for the high stunting rate in children.

For example, 43 percent pregnant women reported they ate less than three times a day, while 55 percent of mothers did not feed breast milk to their children for the first six months.

Moreover, 62 percent of respondents'€™ children consumed food from just one or two food groups, with 40 percent eating less than three times a day.

In terms of sanitation, 20 percent drank from unprotected wells.