Ova 1,000 children fall sick afta dem chop free school food for Indonesia

More dan1,000 children don fall sick from free school lunches for Indonesia dis week, according to authorities.

Dis na di latest for inside one string of mass food poisoning events wey dey linked to President Prabowo Subianto multi-billion-dollar nutritious meals programme.

Yuyun Sarihotima, head of West Java Cipongkor Community Health Center, tell BBC Indonesia say di total number of poisoning victims wey dem record between Monday and Wednesday don reach 1,171.

Dis dey come afta di poisoning of 800 students last week for West Java and Central Sulawesi provinces.

President Prabowo bin organise di nutritious meals programme – wey di aim na to offer free lunches to 80 million school children – one signature of im leadership.

Di rate of di food poisoning incidents don make non-governmental organisations ask authorities to suspend di programme sake of health concerns.

Muhaimin Iskandar, Coordinating Minister for Community Empowerment, on Wednesday, 24 September tok say "plans no dey to stop am".

Victims of di recent outbreaks bin complain of stomach aches, dizziness, and nausea – plus shortness of breath, wey no be typical symptom of food poisoning.

Previous cases of food poisoning wey come from di free lunch programme bin cite negligent food preparation as suspected cause.

Dis week victims chop di food wey include soy sauce chicken, fried tofu, vegetables and fruit – dem bin link past poisoning incidents to expired sauce and, for one case, na bicos dem serve fried shark.

Di head of Indonesia National Nutrition Agency Dadan Hindayana on Wednesday tok say di mass food poisoning for Cipongkor last week na di result of one technical error by di Nutrition Fulfilment Service Unit (SPPG).

Reports say dem don suspend di SPPG operations for Cipongkor, according to di National Nutrition Agency.

West Bandung regent Jeje Ritchie Ismail say im party don declare mass poisoning for Cipongkor "one extraordinary event so dat handling fit dey faster and more comprehensive".

Cipongkor na wia di first suspected case of dis week mass poisoning bin occur on Monday, 22 September – and di number of victims quickly rise to some 475 students.

On Wednesday, another mass poisoning for Cipongkor see as many as 500 students fall sick afta dem chop di free lunches.

Di National Narcotics Agency (BGN) report say from January to 22 September, about 4,711 cases of free school lunch poisoning na im dey. Most of di cases happun for di island of Java.

However, di Indonesian Education Monitoring Network (JPPI) bin report a higher figure. Dis NGO record say as of 21 September, di number of poisoning victims don increase to 6,452 children.

"Dis abnormal situation suppose make di govment declare an outbreak and temporarily pause di program for thorough evaluation," JPPI National Coordinator Ubaid Matraji tok.

Some don call for changes to di scheme, wey include one proposal say make dem distribute di funds directly to parents so dat dem go fit prepare food for dia children instead. Di BGN bin previously reject dis idea.

Across di world, programmes wey dey offer free meals to students don prove to dey effective in improving health, academic performance and attendance.

But Indonesia $28bn (£21bn) version – be like di most expensive of its kind – and e don become di growing target of food safety concerns and heated anti-govment protests.

One centrepiece of Prabowo presidential campaign last year, na di free food programme wey e pitch as way to tackle stunting - one condition wey malnutrition dey cause and e dey affect one-fifth of children below di age of five for Indonesia.

"Through dis initiative, our children go grow taller and come out as champions," Prabowo tok for 2023.

Since e take ova office last October, dis programme, along wit oda populist policies like new houses and free medical check-ups, don earn am political points. Im approval ratings tanda at 80% afta im first 100 days in power.

For di first phase, wey start for January, free school meals don make dia way to 550,000 students for 26 provinces.

While di programme dey "well-intentioned", Maria Monica Wihardja, one visiting fellow for ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, bin tell BBC bifor say "no evidence" of "widespread urgency" for free school meals.

According to one national survey for 2024, less dan 1% of Indonesia households dey go without any food at least one day for di past year.

Di cost of di programme sef no help mata.

Indonesia don set aside more dan $10bn dis year for di free school meals.

By comparison, India spend $1.5bn a year to feed 120 million children inside wetin be di world largest of such programme. Brazil version cost about di same and dem serve some 40 million students.

Defenders of di programme bin argue say e dey approved and e dey already secured for di 2026 State Budget.

But experts don warn say di big cost fit lead to oda concerns.

Large-scale social assistance programmes for Indonesia, historically dey "riddled wit corruption", Muhammad Rafi Bakri, one research analyst for Indonesia audit board, tell BBC.

"Given di large size of di budget," e say, "dis program na goldmine for corrupt officials."



Thousands of school children don suffer food poisoning from one controversial free lunches programme since January.



Populist policies don earn Prabowo political points