The child stunting rate had surpassed 30 percent in six provinces in Indonesia, according to National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) Head Hasto Wardoyo.
“The president mandated us to focus more on young families. This is an important cause for concern because those young families, who are just starting to be productive, will be the determinants of the future,” Wardoyo said at a hearing between Commission IX of the Indonesian House of Representatives and the BKKBN here on Monday.
Based on data from the Indonesia Nutrition Status Study (SSGI) in 2021, the six provinces are East Nusa Tenggara, at 37.8 percent; West Sulawesi, 33.8 percent; Aceh, 33.2 percent; West Nusa Tenggara, 31.4 percent; Southeast Sulawesi, 30.2 percent; and South Kalimantan, 30 percent.
Wardoyo stressed that nutritional problems in those six provinces must be addressed at the earliest. This is because stunting is one of the most significant components in improving the quality of human resources, which is at 24.4 percent.
In addition, stunting in the development of human resources is also closely related to mental-emotional disorders among children — reaching 9.8 percent — and disability or autism, reaching 4.1 percent.
To handle stunting, Wardoyo noted that his agency will focus on conducting interventions in those six provinces and the five most populous provinces in the country: West Java, East Java, Central Java, Banten, and North Sumatra.
The BKKBN will also adhere to the five pillars in the national strategy for accelerating stunting reduction: developing commitment between central and local governments, implementing information, education and communication (IEC) in the community, and conducting sensitive and specific interventions.
The others are processing local food through the Healthy Kitchen to Overcome Stunting (Dashat) program as well as conducting research and innovations, such as the 2021 Family Data Collection and the Elsimil application.
Meanwhile, to assist families, the agency has formed 200 thousand special teams staffed with 500 thousand personnel spread across the country.
However, he emphasized that those actions would not be able to run well without all parties’ strong commitment and collaboration.
To this end, the agency has cooperated with ministries in order to accelerate stunting reduction.
“The BKKBN’s role is to focus on families, how they (families) as the smallest unit in society can be ensured to receive the assistance from ministries and agencies,” the BKKBN head remarked.
Source: Antara News