KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 25 — The Parliamentary Special Select Committee on Women, Children and Community Development has proposed introducing or retargeting milk subsidies to address nutritional deficiencies that contribute to stunting among children.
Its chairman, Yeo Bee Yin (PH-Puchong), said milk is an effective and affordable source of nutrients essential for healthy growth. However, unlike cooking oil and sugar, which receive substantial annual subsidies, milk has not been given similar attention in terms of supply and pricing.
She said the committee believes the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living, and the Ministry of Health (MOH) should review existing subsidies to ensure milk is prioritised.
“Stunting is not just about physical height. It has serious effects on a child’s brain structure and function.
“Children affected by stunting have smaller overall brain volume, fewer neurons and weaker neural connections, which can affect IQ, language skills and concentration,” she said when presenting the committee’s statement in the Dewan Rakyat today.
Yeo said the 2022 National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) showed that the stunting rate among children under five rose to 21.2 per cent, up from 17.7 per cent in 2015. Malaysia is the only Asean country to record an increase in stunting between 2000 and 2024.
The committee also recommended a mandatory monitoring system for all children under five to ensure regular growth checks and early intervention.
It proposed extending nutrition and health interventions from the first 1,000 days of life to 2,000 days, covering children up to five years old.
“The committee found that stunting becomes harder to detect after 18 months, once routine immunisation ends, until children enter kindergarten at age five.
“As such, the MOH is recommended to make nutritional consultations compulsory at six, 12 and 18 months at both government and private health facilities,” she said.
In addition, the committee proposed intensifying public awareness campaigns to improve parents’ nutrition literacy and called for faster implementation of mandatory front-of-pack labelling (Nutri-Grade A-D) on food and beverage products.
Yeo said Malaysia should learn from Indonesia, which reduced its stunting rate by 11 percentage points in six years, from 30.8 per cent in 2018 to 19.8 per cent in 2024.
She noted that Indonesia’s success was supported by a national initiative backed by Presidential Regulation No. 72 of 2021.
The committee also recommended that the Legal Affairs Division (BHEUU), together with the MOH, study the need for a similar legal mandate to tackle stunting in Malaysia. — Bernama
Malay Mail – Malaysia
