Nursing pattern blamed for malnutrition

Tuesday, March 31, 2009 

Panca Nugraha ,  The Jakarta Post ,  MATARAM  

A history of illness and wrong nursing behavior by parents have been blamed for the high rate of malnutrition among children in West Nusa Tenggara province, an official said on Tuesday.

Provincial health agency head Muhammad Ismail said many of the malnutrition cases occurring in the province were due to either a history of illness, such infections, or incorrect nursing styles.

"Most of the children suffering malnutrition were not exclusively fed breast milk during the first six months," he said.

He added that to deal with the problem, his office had intensified campaigns on good nursing habits and nutritional intake among the community, both through the integrated service posts (posyandu) and breast milk counselors.

Data from the agency shows at least 343 children received medical treatment at community health centers (puskesmas) and hospitals across the province for malnutrition as of mid-March.

Seventy-three of the cases were new ones, while the remainder had been carried over from last year.

"They are mostly children less than 5 years old. They are all still in puskesmas and hospitals," Ismail said, adding 14 of the children were getting better.

He also said all malnutrition patients were exempt from paying for medical treatment at puskesmas and hospitals.

West Nusa Tenggara recorded a total of 1,207 malnutrition cases last year, 45 of them fatal. Of the rest, 892 patients recovered and 270 are still receiving medical treatments, along with the 73 new cases found this year.

Malnutrition cases in the province have steadily declined over the years. In 2005, there were 3,950 cases, 40 of them fatal; in 2006, there were 3,465 cases and 10 deaths; while in 2007, there were 1,401 cases with 52 fatalities.

To deal with malnutrition, Ismail said, his office was developed a community-based malnutrition handling program (PGBBM) in cooperation with UNICEF.

He added his office was also distributing government-sponsored milk and milk substitute through posyandu in the province's 889 subdistricts in its eight regencies and two municipalities.

"Of our 889 subdistricts, 339 are already declared as Desa Siaga [on standby] in which you can find a village health post [poskesdes] run by at least a midwife and two health workers from the respective local community," he said.

Ismail expressed hope the posyandu, poskesdes and PGBBM would continue providing the community with good understanding on healthy lifestyles, and underlined that malnutrition was everyone's responsibility to eradicate.

"There are many cases in which patients who have recovered from malnutrition fall sick again after being sent home, because their nursing patterns and nutritional intake do not change," he said.