PUTRAJAYA, June 21 — Five ministries will jointly develop a national Children’s Wellbeing Roadmap to address social issues involving children and to move beyond welfare, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said today.

Women, Family and Community Development Minister Dr Wan Azizah said the roadmap — which her ministry will develop together with the Health, Education, Rural and Regional Development, and Home Affairs Ministries — will also look into existing social protection programmes for the next month to come up with a comprehensive plan.

"There is a need to develop a more integrated and coherent approach in dealing with stunted children. It is more than just a health issue, but one that has socio-behavioural dimensions,” Dr Wan Azizah, who is also deputy prime minister, told a press conference here today.

"We also need to address the issue of marginalised children, especially stateless children and the children of refugees. We are also aware of instances of sexual abuse of children.

"We have to move from the current charity practices and to a more sustainable approach as we have spent a lot on welfare, but the result is not as what is expected,” she added.

Based on the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) report, Dr Wan Azizah said RM287 million was spent on social welfare programmes from 1989 to 2017, but the result was not as fruitful as compared to other countries that spent less.

She said what is important is to coordinate inter-ministries’ cooperation and collaboration to have a more holistic approach in providing better social protection programmes.

"We want to find out where we went wrong and why is it that we did not achieve what was achieved by other countries.

"We can’t claim to be a caring society if we ignore and neglect those who are most in need of care,” said Dr Wan Azizah.

Earlier, the Pandan MP chaired a meeting with representatives from the Health, Education, Rural and Regional Development, and Home Affairs Ministries that was also attended by a Unicef representative, as the UN agency will assist the new government.

In February, a Unicef report titled "Children Without: A study of urban child poverty and deprivation in low-cost flats in Kuala Lumpur” found children living in low-cost housing in the city centre faced higher levels of poverty and malnutrition compared to the national average.

The study found 99.7 per cent children living in low-cost flats in Kuala Lumpur lived in relative poverty, while 7 per cent lived in absolute poverty.