Introducing her, meet Nurmeysa (3 years old), weighing only 7.8 kg at her age, and her height is only 84 cm. Sadly, she is currently classified as malnourished.

It turns out that 24 million toddlers are at a higher risk of experiencing malnutrition or undernutrition during the Covid-19 pandemic. The prevalence of stunting in Indonesia is estimated to have significantly increased due to this pandemic.

Stunting is a condition of failure to thrive in toddlers due to chronic malnutrition, especially during the first 1000 days of life (the first 1000 days). This is caused by a lack of zinc (Zn) during this critical period.

According to poverty data collection in Indonesia in 2017, the prevalence of stunting in Indonesia ranks fifth largest in the world. Out of 159 million children experiencing stunting worldwide, 9 million of them reside in Indonesia.

The results of the Indonesian Toddler Nutrition Survey in 2019 even indicated that the prevalence of stunting reached 27.67 percent. This means that out of every 10 Indonesian children, 3 of them experience stunting.

This lack of iron leads to anemia, and a deficiency in zinc will result in toddlers being short and experiencing stunting. What is even more surprising is that when one out of three Indonesian children experiences stunting, there is a potential vulnerability to the competitiveness of human resources (HR), which poses a threat to the overall national competitiveness!

Let’s help little Nurmeysa and other toddlers overcome stunting and malnutrition by providing Nutritious Food Packages for 5,000 Toddlers in Indonesia.