The National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) is striving to reach remote regions through digitalization to expedite the reduction of childhood stunting.
The agency’s strategy for expediting stunting reduction involves prevention from the upstream, BKKBN official Sukaryo Teguh Santoso informed in a statement released on Thursday.
This is being done by assisting families identified at risk of stunting that have been mapped by name and address through BKKBN’s 2021 family data, he said.
To assist future couples, the agency has deployed 600 thousand personnel divided into 200 family assistance teams (TPKs), which comprise midwives, Family Welfare Development (PKK) officials, and Family Planning (KB) officials.
The assistance for prospective brides and grooms will be provided in the form of a health examination before marriage, and the data will be entered using the Marriage Ready Pregnant Ready Electronic (Elsimil) application.
The TPKs will also need to conduct family data verification and validation in real-time.
However, Indonesia’s geographical conditions have posed a challenge for the agency’s efforts to expedite stunting reduction, Santoso said.
It is still very hard for communication and information networks to reach remote regions even though network connectivity has become important for TPKs for collecting data digitally, he added.
Moreover, the provision of family assistance is also being hindered by technical issues such as signal problems and server issues, he explained.
To resolve this issue, the BKKBN has established cooperation with state-run telecommunication enterprise PT Telkomsel, he informed.
The cooperation is expected to facilitate the provision of assistance by TPKs to families and cover all remote regions so that the 14-percent stunting reduction target can be achieved by 2024.
Telkomsel’s area account manager, vice president Samuel Pasaribu, said that the company is willing to help the government reduce stunting by facilitating the communication and information network and digitalization program.
The company fully supports Elsimil, he said adding that he has instructed all officials to become agents of change for educating staff on the importance of health examination for preventing stunting.
Source: Antara News