Improving the Health of the Poorest Kids

The Problem

Indonesia is a country rich in natural resources and yet the Indonesian Minister of Health recently stated that adequate nutrition is still a main problem for Indonesia. She said about 350,000 out of 4 million babies are underweight. About 5 million out of the 18 million Indonesian children under 5 years old are malnourished, while 10 out of 31 million school-going children suffer malnourishment.¹There are approximately eighty million Indonesians living on less than one dollar per day²and poverty continues to rise. The 5.5% economic growth rate in 2006 and the forecasted GDP growth at 6.2%³ in 2007 are insufficient to create the jobs needed to bring the millions out of poverty in the near future. Indonesians who are poor are more likely to have poor health and early death. At the same time, unhealthy Indonesians have a more difficult time working and sustaining a job, making it more unlikely they will break the family cycle of poverty.

The poorest families send their children to madrasah, or religious day schools. They do this as a choice of last resort, in general. They do not have the financial means to go to government sponsored schools, which require fees and family expenditure on books and uniforms. The most at risk students are the children at poor nonprofit private schools and madrasahs supported by the local communities, which are also quite poor. Not only are their families poor and often uneducated, but the schools themselves rely on community support to operate. Unfortunately, the resources of the surrounding communities are minimal and the schools suffer. Often there is not clean water or adequate sanitation. This, of course, creates a breeding ground for disease, an unhealthy environment for the students.

Health and education are building blocks for a future healthy economy in Indonesia. This is recognized in The United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).⁴These indicators are used to measure and monitor progress in development and alleviation of poverty. More than one third of the indicators focus on health and education.

Helping Children and Their Families

Uplift International recognizes the need for the poorest children to improve their nutrition, health education and access to clean water and adequate sanitation. We have developed a program targeting some of the neediest children in Jakarta, Indonesia-- those attending the madrasah, or religious day schools. The program focuses on 6,000 students in 30 schools. It is guided by the Millennium Development Goals of the UN, which are universally accepted goals directed at meeting the needs of the worlds poorest people by the year 2015.⁵ Our program helps the most vulnerable children attain better nutrition and health. None of our programs involve any religious activities or themes.

The Program A math class

Our program first supplies food supplementation to the students and teaches them about good nutrition. Caretakers need to be educated too so that food prepared at home is nutritious. Our program includes an educational component that focuses on the mothers, caretakers and the teachers.
We supply water filtration systems and toilets to the madrasah so their environment is healthy and their risks of infectious diseases are less. With good nutrition, healthy environments and knowledge about healthy behaviors, such as hand washing, madrasah children will be healthier and better students.
The health education component teaches the students, mothers and teachers about nutrition, clean water and sanitation and how healthy behaviors are important for good health and optimal learning.
The program creates and trains community teams to monitor the health and nutrition of these at-risk children and advocate for improved local government support for them.
The program works to increase the general community knowledge and demand for better health and nutrition information and services, especially in the poorest communities

¹Kompas Daily January 26, 2007

²The Economist, “Poverty in Indonesia, Always with them, Sep 14th 2006

³ World Bank

⁴UN Millennium Development Goals

⁵ UN Millennium Development Goals

Top