If it does not run well, we will find it hard to achieve the target of reducing the stunting rate in Papua.
Jayapura, Papua (ANTARA) – The National Population and Family Planning Agency’s (BKKBN’s) Papua office has called for synergy among district/city administrations to help the central government reduce the stunting rate in the easternmost province to 16 percent by 2024.
The synergy built at the district/city level with regional apparatus organizations to lower the stunting rate has not run well, coordinator of the Stunting Reduction Task Force at the BKKBN Papua office, Mochammad Sodiq, said here on Saturday.
“If it does not run well, we will find it hard to achieve the target of reducing the stunting rate in Papua,” he said.
In addition, periodic socialization is also needed to make the public more aware of the importance of paying attention to their children’s growth, he added.
“The knowledge of stunting among the Papuan people living in the hinterland is still low, or around 86 percent,” he said.
In addition to poor coordination among regional apparatus organizations, difficult access to each village has also posed a hindrance to achieving the target, he explained.
“We hope for cooperation starting from the OPD (regional apparatus organizations), Puskesmas (public health service posts), Posyandu (integrated health service posts), to PKK (family welfare empowerment) cadres to help socialize the importance of paying attention to children’s growth,” he said.
At an event held to mark the 29th National Family Day at Merdeka Field, Medan, North Sumatra, this month, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) had called for synergy among all parties involved in efforts to reduce childhood stunting.
“I invite all the nation’s powers to move together, work together, synergize together to reduce stunting and all the root causes of the problem,” he said at the event, which was broadcast live on the Presidential Secretariat’s official YouTube channel and accessed from Jakarta.
According to the President, synergy is important so that the next generation comprises quality human resources.
The government is aiming to reduce the stunting rate to 14 percent by 2024. The rate was recorded at 37 percent in 2014 and 24.4 percent in 2021.
Source: ANTARA News