KL’s low-cost housing children are living in nearly 100% poverty, more stunted than in African countries

UNICEF Malaysia issued a report yesterday concluding that of the 1000 household they spoke to, the poverty and malnutrition rates in low-cost flats is higher in Kuala Lumpur than the rest of the country.

The study, Children Without: A study of urban child poverty and deprivation in low-cost flats in Kuala Lumpur, reported that lack of opportunity and early education made the children more vulnerable to malnutrition, which could impair their cognitive development.

UNICEF’s Malaysia representative Mariann Clark-Hatting wrote that while Malaysia has widely eliminated poverty over the last 30 years, it has not meant that everyone has escaped its throes, and most notably, it is children that have left behind.

Currently, the national poverty rate is 3.8% according to the 2017 CIA World Factbook, and less than that in Kuala Lumpur as a whole.

However, when it comes to low-income housing, the report states that nearly 100% of the children there live in relative property.

Some of the main findings that researchers made:

  • Almost all children (99.7%) in low-cost flats live in relative poverty and 7 per cent in absolute poverty
  • About 15 per cent of children below the age of five are underweight, almost two times higher compared to the KL average (8%)
  • About 22 per cent of the children are stunted, two times higher than the KL average
  • About 23 per cent of the children are either overweight or obese, six times higher compared to the KL average (4%)
  • While almost all of the children aged 7 to 17 are in school, only 50% of 5 to 6 year olds attend pre-school compared to 92% of national enrolment in 2015
  • About 1 in 3 households surveyed has no reading materials, for children aged below 18
  • About 4 in 10 households have no toys for the children aged below 5

 

 

To put the numbers into context, the level of stunting (being under-weight and height for their age) among these children is higher than Ghana’s, that sees its children at 18.8%. When broken down into states that are further from the capital, UNICEF reported that stunting in Kelantan was 34%, which is higher than low-income countries like Zimbabwe (27.6%) and Swaziland (25.5%).

The study hopes that these shocking figures will result in greater attention of children living in urban poor areas, that that targeted polices and intervention will ensure that “no child is left behind.”

The report recommends revising poverty indicators, promoting breastfeeding among new mothers until at least six months, and implementing policies that give this group access to more nutritious food.

 



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