KUCHING: Sarawak has experienced a decrease in the prevalence of underweight children based on the findings of National Health Morbidity Survey (NHMS) conducted by the Institute for Public Health Malaysia in 2016 and 2022.
Minister of Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah said that the findings disclosed that underweight, stunting, wasting and overweight children below the age of five in Sarawak showed a decrease from 17.8 per cent to 15.6 per cent (weight-for-age).
“Stunting declined from 23.1 per cent to 19.4 per cent, (height-for-age); wasting was reduced from 12 per cent to 10.5 per cent (weight-for-height); and overweight also showed a decline from 7.6 per cent to 6.8 per cent, (BMI-for-age).
“The prevalence of stunting, wasting and overweight among children below the age of five is lower than the national average,” she pointed out in a statement.
She added that at the national level, stunting affected around one in five – or 21.2 per cent – of all children in Malaysia compared to 19.4 per cent prevalence in Sarawak.
“This problem affects children on both ends of the financial spectrum,” she said.
Fatimah was responding to a Malaysiakini report that revealed malnutrition cases are rising with over 50 per cent of children not having regular meals.
“This report is based on the key findings of a report titled ‘Living OnThe Edge’ carried out by UNICEF. It is a longitudinal study on post COVID-19 impact assessment among low-income households in Kuala Lumpur.
“This study is a continuation of the Families on the Edge (FOE) project to measure the impact of the pandemic on women and children in low-income families in Kuala Lumpur.
“The data (October-November 2023) was collected from a total of 755 low-income households living in 16 low-cost public housing in Kuala Lumpur,” she said.
