"The Indonesian president, Prabowo Subianto, in January unveiled his flagship free meals programme to combat malnutrition and stunted growth. But thousands have been poisoned by the government-provided food since, sparking concern the programme is putting child safety at risk. The 3.2bn free meal programme provides daily meals to 39 million school students, toddlers, pregnant women and new mothers, according to the national nutrition agency, known as BGN. By year end the target is to reach 83 million."
"The Indonesian Education Monitoring Network, an NGO, has documented more than 15,000 cases of poisoning linked to the programme nationwide, and the outbreaks do not appear to be slowing. This September, more than 1,300 children fell ill in Cipongkor, West Java, with other outbreaks in Yogyakarta, Central Java and Sumatra. Jakarta-based nutritionist Dr Tan Shot Yen, representing an advocacy group called the Mother and Chi"
Indonesia's $3.2bn free meal programme provides daily meals to 39 million school students, toddlers, pregnant women and new mothers, with a year-end target of 83 million. Since the January rollout, thousands have been poisoned by government-provided food, with the Indonesian Education Monitoring Network documenting over 15,000 cases nationwide. Outbreaks in West Java, Yogyakarta, Central Java and Sumatra sickened hundreds to thousands, including incidents where students required hospital treatment. Social media complaints describe maggots in tempeh, shards of glass in rice and dirty food trays, while mothers' groups have organised mass protests. Experts urge improvements to safety and oversight before scaling up.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]