KUALA LUMPUR: The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) commended the positive move by Malaysian ministries and agencies in promoting healthy lifestyle to overcome the issue of childhood obesity and malnutrition in the country.
The Malaysian Government has taken increased measures to mitigate over and under-nutrition where multi-pronged strategies have been carried out to support healthy eating and active lifestyles through various initiatives and programmes, the organisation said in a statement.
Unicef Malaysia Representative Marianne Clark-Hattingh noted that Malaysia has in place a well-structured two-tier system and strong delivery of primary health care to more than 90 per cent of the population, as well as interventions on food programmes in school, nutrition consultation and weight reduction initiatives.
“Thanks to efforts by the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Youth and Sports, civil society and other stakeholders, there are ongoing programmes in place to support breastfeeding amongst new mothers, ensure children eat better and encourage youth to be more physically active.
“Such interventions make a huge difference in the lives of children in Malaysia and enables the full potential of future generations,” she said. the statement.
Besides Malaysia, the Unesco said that this ‘double burden of malnutrition’ was also happening in other middle income countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, as identified in a recent report from Unicef, World Health Organisation (WHO) and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
According to the latest statistics from Malaysia’s National Health Morbidity Survey (NHMS 2015), more than 7.0 per cent of children in Malaysia under five have been identified as overweight.
The same survey also found that 8.0 per cent of children under five suffered acute malnutrition, or wasting, added the statement. — Bernama