Geneva, Nov. 7 -- Recently, I had the opportunity to travel to Indonesia and visit GAIN's programmes in East Java. In this region, more than 40% of children under 5 suffer from malnutrition, and almost 1 million are stunted. Reducing stunting is one of the main priorities of the Ministry of Health in Indonesia.
A critical element to improve children's health and reduce child malnutrition is changing behaviours and practices around maternal and infant nutrition. In Indonesia, mothers are generally aware that exclusive breastfeeding for six months is best for their child, and that they should continue to breastfeed for a further eighteen months with complementary foods. But many still prefer feeding their children with infant formula. A cont...