Mother Milk and the Indonesian Economy: A Major National Resource

  • Jon Eliot Rohde Rockefeller Foundation Yogyakarta and Consultant to WHO
Keywords: mother milk, infant food, human milk, economy

Abstract

While a myriad of health and nutritional considerations have proven that mother milk is the ideal infant food, national policy makers have failed to recognize the great value of human milk to the economy of developing countries. Today in Indonesia, mothers produce over one billion liters of milk annually with a conservatively estimated net market value of over Rp. 252 milyard or US S 400 million. Additional monetary savings in health and fertility reduction directly attributable to lactation add a further Rp. 75.6 milyard or US S 120 million to the economy.

Mothermilk is one of Indonesia's most precious natural resources, exceeding tin and coffee in gross monetary value and approaching that of rubber. Its value exceeds twice the annual national budget for health and roughly equals the cost of imported rice, for which Indonesia has become, unenviably, the world's largest buyer. This great resource is not only renewable, but also equitably distributed, benefits consumer and producer alike and gives far ranging nonmonetery benefits to society. Positive governmental action is urgently needed to curtail private industry, professional groups and international assistance whose actions in providing and promoting milk of various kinds are insidiously depriving Indonesia of one of its greatest natural resources - Indonesian mother milk.

References

1. BLANKHART D.M. : Measured food intakes of young Indonesian children J. Trop. Pediatr. 8: 18-21 (1968).
2. BOEDIMAN D, ISMAIL D, IMAN S, ISMANGOEN, ISMADI S.D. : Composition of breast milk beyond one year. J, frop Pediatr. 25 : 107- 110 (1979),
3. CAMERON M, HOFV ANDER Y : Manual on feeding ,infants and young children-UNPAG 2nd ed. 103 (1976).
4. CUNNINGHAM A.S. : Morbidity in bre11stfed and artificially fed infants. II. J. Pediatr 95 : 685 - 689 ( 1979).
5. DJUMADIAS A, ENOCH M. : Comparison of breast feeding, weaning and nutritional status of infants in urban and peri-urban Jakarta, (in Indonesian) Proceedings of National Pediatric Congress, KONIKA IV Yogyakarta; 55- 77 (1978).
6. GREINER T, ALMOTH S, LATHAM M.C. : The Economic Value of Breastfeeding, Cornell International Nutrition Monograph Number 9, 1979.
7. GUNN R.A. KIMBAL A.M. et al., Bottle ,feeding as a risk factor for cholera in infants. Lancet ii : 730- 732 (1979).
8. HULL. T.H., HUL V.J., SINGARIMBUN M. : Indonesia's family planning story: success and challenge. Population Bulletin 32 :6 (1977).
9. HULL V.J.: Women, doctors and family health care : Some lessons from rural Java. Studies in Faro Plan 10: 315 ·325 (1979).
10. HULL V.J. : Fertility, socioeconomic status and the position of women in a Javanese village- Ph. D. Thesis; Australian National University 1975
11. HULL V.J. KORDIRAN, SINGARIMBUN I : Family formation in the University Community. Population Institute Gajah Mada University 1976.
12. IMAN S, SADJlMAN T, BUDIMAN D, ISMANGOEN : Breast milk, weaning and child growth in: Breast Feeding; ,the Biological Option (Indonesian edition), eds. Soeharyono and Ebrahim. Yayasan Essentia MedLca, Yogyakarta 1979; p. 109.
13. Indonesian Central Bureau of Statistis 1980. Jakarta.
14. JELLIFFE, D.B. and JELLIFFE, E.F.P. : Human Milk in the Modern World. (OxJord University Press, New York 1978a).
15. JELLIFFE D.B. and JELLIFFE E.F.P.: The volume and composition of human milk in poorly nourished communities. A review. Am J clin Nutr 31:492-215 (1978).
16. KARDJATI, KUSIN J.A. DeWITT C, SUDIGBIA I.K. : Feeding practices, nutritional status and mortality in preschool children. Trop. Geogr. Med 30: 359-317 (1978).
17. LARSEN S.A., HOMER D.R. F: Relation of breast versus bottle feeding to hospitalization Jor gastroenteri,is in a middleclass US population. J. Pediatr. 92 : 417-418 (1978).
18. PLANK S, MILANESI L : Infant feeding and infant mortality in rural Chile, Bull WHO 48: 203- 210 (1973).
19. POPULATION INSTITUTE : Unpubliished analysis. Ngaglik rural study. Gajah Mada University, Yogyakarta 1980.
20. ROHDE J.E. : Human milk in the second year : Nutritional and economic considerations for Indonesia. Pediatr. Indones. 14 : 198-207 (1974).
21. ROHDE J.E. NORTHRUP, R.S. Taking science where the diarrhea is in: Acute Diarrhea in Childhood, CIBA Foundation Symposium 42, 339- 366 (Elsevier ;Excerpta Medica/Nerth Holland, 1976).
22. RUMONDANG et al : Mother milk and diarrhea in: Breast Feeding - the Biological Option - lman S, Sadjimin T, Boediman D, Ismangoen, Breast milk, weaning and child growth in: Breast Feeding the Biological Option (Indonesian editon) eds Soeharyono and Ebrahim. Yayasan Essentia Media, Yogyakarta
1979; p. 102.
23. SINGARIMBUN M, MANNING C Fertility and family planning in Mojolama. Population Institute, Gajah Mada Univershty, Yogyakarta 1974.
24. SURYONO D, ISMAIL S.D. SUWADJI, ROHDE, J.E. : Bacterial contamination and dilution of milk in infant feeding bottles. J. Trop. Pediatr. 26 : 58 (1980).
25. TAN M.G., DJUMADIAS et al., Social and cultural aspects of food patterns and food babies in five rural areas in Indonesia. National Institute of Economics and Social Research, 1970
26. UNICEF/Ministry of Health. Communication and breastfeeding behavior in Jakarta. UNICEF 1979 (preliminary analysis).
27. UN protein Calorie Advisory Group Recommendations on policies and practices in infant and young child feeding and proposals for action to implement them. PAG Bull 5 : 1 - 24 (1975).
28. WHO/ UNICEF : Joint WHO/UNICEF meeting in infant and young chiJd feeding. WHO Geneva, 1979.
29. WILLIAMS C.D. : Nutritional condition among women and children in internment in the civilian camp at Singapore. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 5 : 127 (1946). Reprinted in Nutr Rev 31 : 539-361 (1973).
30. WRA Y J.D.: Maternal nutrition, breastfeeding and infant survival. In Mosley WH ed. Nutrition and Human Reproduction, Plenum 1978; 197-229.
31. WYON J.B. GORDON J.E . : The Khanna Study. Harvard University Pres& 1971.
Published
2021-12-16
How to Cite
1.
Rohde J. Mother Milk and the Indonesian Economy: A Major National Resource. PI [Internet]. 16Dec.2021 [cited 29Mar.2024];20(9-10):177-4. Available from: https://www.paediatricaindonesiana.org/index.php/paediatrica-indonesiana/article/view/2879
Section
Developmental Behavioral & Community Pediatrics
Received 2021-12-16
Published 2021-12-16