Thai Children In Southern Provinces Lag Behind In Nutrition, Immunisation And Learning

BANGKOK, April 1 (Bernama) -- As Thailand continues to make positive developments in children’s well-being in the southern provinces, a UNICEF-supported survey by the National Statistical Office (NSO) finds many living in the region continue to lag behind in nutrition, imunization and learning. The survey on the situation of children and women in 17 provinces in the south particularly in Songkhla, Satun, Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat also showed positive trends including significant increase in iodized salt intake, lower proportion of children not living with their parents, and child protection has also improved with lower adolescent birth rates. UNICEF Representative for Thailand, Kyungsun Kim said she is encouraged to see evidence that Thailand has made considerable progress in several areas of child well-being in the deep south. “However, we now have evidence that too many children in the far south remain malnourished, vulnerable to serious diseases, out of school and lacking skills and resources to learn at home and school – setting them back not just a few years behind their peers in other provinces but for a lifetime,” she said in a statement in conjunction with the release of the report on Wednesday. Kyungsun said the data was collected before the COVID-19 pandemic, so the situation now is even more concerning. The report said children in the southern region are among the most malnourished in the country where Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat provinces, about 23 per cent of children under 5 are stunted or have a low height-for-age while these stunting rates are almost double the national average of 13 per cent. Besides that, it said Narathiwat province also has the highest rate of wasting or low weight-for-height among the 17 provinces surveyed where about 16 per cent of children under 5 are wasted, while the national average stands much lower at 8 per cent. The wasting rate in Pattani province is also concerning at 10 per cent. “Immunization is a major concern in the far south. While 82 per cent of 1-year-old children in Thailand are fully immunized, almost half of their peers in Narathiwat Province are not,” it said. The survey said children in the south were out of school at much higher rates than across the country where 5 to 8 per cent of lower secondary school age children in Narathiwat, Songkhla, Pattani and Satun provinces were out of school, above the national average of 3 per cent. This gap further widens with 19 to as high as 36 per cent of upper secondary school age children in Pattani, Songkhla and Narathiwat provinces out of school, while the national average is 18 per cent, the report said. The survey finds almost all primary school age children in deep south are attending school, but only few have skills that make learning possible. Thirty-six to as low as 18 per cent of children of ages seven and eight in Narathiwat, Songkhla, Pattani and Yala provinces are able to successfully complete three foundational reading tasks – far lower than the national average of 52 per cent. October last year, NSO and UNICEF released data from a national survey on the situation of children and women conducted in May-November 2019, known as the sixth Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS 6). The provincial report, or the 17 Provinces MICS, launched on Wednesday will help identify issues adversely affecting the well-being and development of children in the most disadvantaged and vulnerable provinces in Thailand, particularly in Songkhla, Satun, Pattani, Yala and Narathiwat provinces. -- BERNAMA