Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Banda Aceh (Agenzia Fides) - Growing malnutrition in Indonesia is the cause of a rising infant mortality rate according to a report issued by the UN World Food Programme in collaboration with the Indonesian Institute of Statistics Badan Pusat Statistik. The report was drafted on the basis of a survey in 30 provinces and 341 cities and districts
Over 30% of the children examined by UN personnel were found to be underweight, particularly in northern and western Sumatra, Java, Nusa Tenggara Barat, Nusa Tenggara Timur, Jambi and West Kalimantan. The children eat less than 1,700 kcal a day whereas the daily minimum need to guarantee health balanced growth is 2,100 kcal. Consequently infant mortality in these areas has risen to the rate of 55 per 1,000, considerably higher than the national average of 43 per 1,000. The WFP report gives a Nutrition Map to complete its Food Security Map issued in l 2005.
Helping malnourished children is the aim of Italian Franciscan missionary Fr Ferdinando Severi in Indonesia since 1968 presently in Banda Aceh northern Sumatra a district affected by malnutrition. He says the situation became more acute after the tsunami tragedy in December 2004 . At Bandar Baru a highland area Fr Severi runs Bethlehem Orphanage and School where he assists 150 poor orphans and other children.
The priest spent 18 months nursing lepers at a leprosy centre in Kotacane, southern Aceh. In Banda Aceh he works to assist children with disabilities many of whom are hidden by the parents out of shame or lack of means. Fr Severi works with Dutch doctors who perform operations free of charge at Harapan Jaya Medical Centre in Pematang Siantar, 600 km away from the parish house.
Back in the parish many children have been rehabilitated, many have been adopted at a distance, many poor children get a meal and attend the parish school. With his small personal contribution Fr. Severi shares God’s love for the needy children of Indonesia and strives to fight the scourge of malnutrition and infant deaths in this area. (Agenzia Fides 11/7/2006 righe 28 parole 278)
