Indonesia has achieved many milestones in its journey to becoming a middle-income country. Decreases in child deaths and significant increases in primary school enrolment are among them. Improvements in children’s nutrition status, however, are not.
Millions of Indonesian children and adolescents remain threatened by staggering rates of stunting and wasting and the ‘double burden’ of malnutrition where under- and over-nutrition co-exist.
In 2018, close to 3 in 10 children under 5 years of age were stunted while 1 in 10 were wasted.
A fifth (20 per cent) of primary school-aged children and about 15 per cent of adolescents are overweight or obese. Two million children under 5 suffer from severe acute malnutrition, a life-threatening condition if left untreated.