KUALA Lumpur may have a per capita income matching that of developed countries, but its children living in low-cost flats are deprived in terms of nutrition, education, safety and living conditions, a Unicef study has found.

“Children Without: A study of urban child poverty and deprivation in low-cost flats in Kuala Lumpur” released today found that 97% of low-cost flat households, earning a median income of RM2,500 a month, said high food prices prevented them from preparing healthy meals.

Fifty-two per cent of households said they did not have enough money to buy food in recent months, and 15% said they “experienced this frequently”, while 12% of children ate less than three meals a day.

The findings put malnutrition for low-cost flat children higher than the national average of 22%, and for Kuala Lumpur’s alone at 11%.

The study, conducted from August 28 to September 30 last year, in 17 low-cost flats in the capital and Selangor involved 996 households and 2,142 children as respondents.

Done in collaboration with local research firm DM Analytics, the Unicef study set out to measure the impact of government interventions to address child poverty through education, food, health and welfare.

DM Analytics managing director and chief Economist Dr Muhammed Abdul Khalid who wrote the report, called for poverty indicators, especially in cities like Kuala Lumpur, to be reanalysed.

“We need to revisit poverty indicators. The way we currently measure poverty will not detect poverty accurately. Look for the ones who have been left behind. Children in urban cities are also marginalised groups,” he said during a press briefing last week ahead of the report’s release today.

In education, 51% of children who aged 5 and 6 did not attend preschool, while 2% of children aged 7 to 17 had never been enrolled in school.

Of the 2% who had not been enrolled, 84% of them were secondary school-aged, between 13 to 17, while 16% were of primary school age of between 7 and 12.

Parents queried by researchers said they did not have enough funds to send their children to school.

The study also found that education levels among children living in low-cost flats were affected by the lack of a proper space to study, as 81% children studied in their living rooms, sharing the space with other family members watching television, while 15% did not have a study space at all.

Parents also worried about their children’s safety in low-cost flats, with 75% of them saying they felt their environment was unsafe, especially at night.

Muhammed said child poverty is often overlooked in metropolitan cities, and more so those living in low-cost flats.

He said this was a “data blind spot” that needed specific policy measures or Malaysia would be in trouble by 2050, when today’s urban poor children grow up to become a generation of poor adults.

“If you do not fix this, this is the generation of 2050. If you do not address this, it will come to haunt us in 30 years time.”

It puts Malaysia at risk by weakening the labour market with less educated talent and lower productivity.

“The labour market will not be productive and it will affect the economic development of the country,” he said.

Has the government done enough?

It’s not that Putrajaya has not addressed child poverty, Muhammad said. The government has targeted programmes like food assistance in schools and monetary assistance.

Children are also aided in terms of free primary school education, access to healthcare and help for malnourished children.

But Muhammed said these interventions are not assesed for their effectiveness and improvements needed.

“The (interventions) are still on going but they do not measure their results. They can not determine how effective the programmes are actually,” he said.

Suggestions made by Unicef includes a social protection floor for all children, with provision for a universal childcare allowance and other measures to build stronger foundations in children’s health. 

Muhammed said if a child or a pregnant mother is given a RM200 allowance for 1,000 days it would inject an income to the household’s budget and contribute towards poverty eradication.

“We can afford it, take some from BR1M to support this. Give it to all despite them being rich, it is socially more inclusive,” he said referring to Putrajaya’s Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia (BR1M) cash handouts.

Unicef also suggested a complete revamp of children’s nutrition, including giving new mothers six exclusive months of breastfeeding.

“There needs to be 6 months of solid breast feeding. The labour market has to change,” Muhammed said.

Another proposal was a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) to discourage consumption and reduce Putrajaya’s expenditure on treating obesity-related illnesses.

The SSB tax could also fund the universal childcare allowance.

On safety for children in low-cost flats, Muhammed said these places should create “social safe spaces” to curb bullying and protect children from feeling isolated and vulnerable to negative influences.

Unicef Malaysia’s deputy representative and senior social policy specialist Dr Amjad Rabi said the problems of Kuala Lumpur’s children in low-cast flats were a “global phenomenon”.

“It is the same story everywhere. The capital city is doing well but (not) when you zoom in closer (on the children),” he said. – February 26, 2018.