Gunilla Olsson, Representative of UNICEF Indonesia
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| Children from a traditional village in Sumba Island, East Nusa Tenggara. ©UNICEFIndonesia/2014/Hasan |
There is a widespread belief in
Indonesia that its people are short by nature. Because generation after
generation of family members is small in size, many people assume that physical
stature is a genetic trait over which people have no control.
But science shows that this is not usually the case. Short and thin mothers give birth to small and malnourished children, who grow poorly because they are unable to eat sufficient nutritious food, or they suffer frequent episodes of diarrhea and other infectious diseases. The girls become short and thin mothers, and so the intergenerational cycle of malnutrition continues.
