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Triple Burden
Indonesia, a developing country of 270 million, suffers from a "triple burden of malnutrition,” which includes stunting, and anaemia among mothers, and obesity, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund.
Nearly one in three Indonesian children under five is stunted, it says.
"The nutrition status impacts children's immunity," said Dr Nastiti Kaswandani, a paediatric pulmonologist in the capital, Jakarta.
"That's important in mitigating Covid infections."
Paediatricians said the ill-equipped healthcare system was also a problem.
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"The biggest discrepancy in Indonesia is the availability of paediatric intensive care units," said Shela Putri Sundawa, a paediatric doctor in Jakarta.
The health ministry declined to provide data on care units for children and a senior official said the system had not been overwhelmed.
Equipment shortages are more pronounced outside the capital.
Paediatrician Dominicus Husada said a hospital he worked at on Madura island, in East Java, did not have ventilators for children. An 11-year-old died from the coronavirus there in March.
One father, Iyansyah, whose nine-month old boy died from COVID-19 on Lombok island, told Reuters the hospital did not have care units for children.
"Truthfully, if the hospital I went to had complete facilities, he'd probably have survived,” said Iyansyah.
