5 days ago
- Health
- Free Malaysia Today
Give children free healthy food until age of 3, says MP
The 2024 National Health and Morbidity Survey found that 16.1% of children under the age of five suffer from stunting.
KUALA LUMPUR : An opposition MP has proposed that the government consider providing free healthy meals to children up to the age of three to prevent stunting.
Dr Alias Razak (PN-Kuala Nerus) said this could help reduce costs associated with treating complications from malnutrition and stunting, which he said could amount to RM34.09 billion annually.
'The cost of treatment is far higher than providing free healthy food to them,' he told the Dewan Rakyat during the debate on the 13th Malaysia Plan today.
'According to one study, if RM150 is allocated per child during the first 1,000 days of life, the total would only come up to RM2.418 billion a year.'
Alias said the 2024 National Health and Morbidity Survey found that 16.1% of children under the age of five suffer from stunting.
Meanwhile, more than 16% of school-aged children are obese, and nearly 95% of Malaysians do not consume enough fruits and vegetables, he said.
This indicates imbalanced diets, likely caused by the rising cost of living and low wages.
'Healthy food is becoming more expensive. When household income is limited, people tend to choose the cheapest food, regardless of whether it's healthy or not,' he said.
Alias said the expansion of the sales and service tax to include nutritious imported fruits had made healthy food more expensive.
