Govt to battle malnutrition with National Children Well-Being Roadmap — Wan Azizah

PUTRAJAYA: The government is in the process of developing the National Children Well-Being Roadmap (NCWR) to address the issue of malnutrition among children, says Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

Wan Azizah who is also Women, Family and Community Development Minister said the government took a serious view of malnutrition among children as raised in the Global Nutrition Report 2018 which showed Malaysia was plagued with stunted children, rising prevalence of anemia among women and the problem of obesity.

“The government is in the process of developing the roadmap as it was aware of the issues brought up in the UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund) Report that the problems not only involved children living in Poor People’s Housing Programme (PPRT).

“The roadmap is aimed at combating the root cause and not the symptoms. It covers basic intervention, preventive intervention and reactive intervention,” she said in a statement yesterday.

Wan Azizah said the issues of stunted and overweight children were raised in Children Without report by UNICEF which focuses on children living in PPRT.

Apart from poverty, she said other factors which caused the situation were unhealthy lifestyle and diet.

Wan Azizah said efforts to develop the roadmap was still in the process of consultations between government agencies.