Covid-19 forces Malaysia’s poor to live on instant noodles, abandon school: UN study

The study of 500 families living in low-cost flats revealed a ‘shocking’ change in diet, while more than 40 per cent lacked equipment for online study

Women were particularly vulnerable to the pandemic’s economic fallout, while government financial assistance was found to be of limited help

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Fire and Rescue personnel sanitise the area around apartment buildings in Malaysia during the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo: DPA

Published: 8:45pm, 24 Aug 2020Updated: 7:43pm, 25 Aug 2020

A new study by United Nations agencies has detailed the extent to which Covid-19 has hit poor families in Malaysia’s capital, forcing some to survive on instant noodles as their savings run out, while their children are unable to continue school because they have no access to computers or the internet for e-learning.

Of the 500 families living in low-cost flats that were interviewed by Unicef and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), a quarter of household heads were unemployed, while close to a third had their working hours cut back and found it difficult to access health care. More than half were not covered by government social protection schemes.

The report, titled ‘Families on the Edge’, reveals how the pandemic has wreaked havoc on those in Malaysia’s ‘B40’ economic bracket – the bottom 40 per cent of households, by income – with women particularly vulnerable. Of the female heads of household interviewed, 32 per cent were unemployed.

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Some 40 per cent of the families surveyed ate more instant noodles than they had before Malaysia’s lockdown, during which many businesses were closed, while more than half ate more eggs.

“The change in diet was quite shocking,” said Muhammed Abdul Khalid, managing director of DM Analytics, the research institute which published the study. “Egg consumption skyrocketed as one of the cheapest proteins. Rice went up 40 per cent, as did noodles. Fruits, far less. We can already predict issues of malnutrition. One in three kids already face malnutrition, and with schools shuttered many children were not even able to access government-funded breakfasts.”

A man wearing a protective mask crosses a street in front of the Petronas Twin Towers, in Kuala Lumpur. Photo: Reuters

Malnutrition is a long-standing issue among the nation’s urban poor in low-cost housing, with a 2018 Unicef study finding that 22 per cent of children below the age of five were stunted, 15 per cent were underweight, 20 per cent suffered from acute malnutrition while 23 per cent were overweight or obese.

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